Book 10: Chapter 60: Return

“What happened?” Qin Lun asked urgently.

“Generally, eleven versus seven seemed unfair, but most on the larger side were injured, making it fairly even. However, the Apostles from Hismere were surprisingly weak, just a messy bunch compared to the Chaos members. After the fight started, four died within minutes, and the other three fled. If the Chaos members had chased them, wiping all of them out wouldn’t have been a surprise.” Huobiao recalled the situation and found it somewhat amusing.

“What about their High-Rank Apostle? I vaguely remember Star Void hinting that there were three High-Rank Apostles in this world. We didn’t have one, while Chaos and Divine Light each had one. Hismere should have had one too—did he never show up?” Qin Lun narrowed his eyes, hiding the sharp glint within.

“Hmm… no, if a High-Rank Apostle had appeared back then, Chaos would have been the ones suffering heavy losses,” Huobiao replied with certainty.

After Huobiao left, Qin Lun fell into deep thought.

Qin Lun understood why the High-Rank Apostle from Hismere did not appear near the Ruins. Apostles often encountered opposing competitive missions during Otherworld Missions, arrangements made by Star Void to expand the exploration depth of mission plots.

For their respective Otherworld Missions, Apostles from different factions fought and killed each other frequently. If strengths were similar, they compromised; if they couldn’t, they used whatever means necessary—schemes, direct confrontations, leveraging power—all quite normal. Even if comrades died during missions, most Apostles could accept it.

Dying during missions was ultimately the fate of Apostles. Missions here referred not only to Otherworld Missions issued by Star Void but also to military campaigns and assassination tasks assigned by Sapient Races within Star Void.

No team would launch an endless group war against an opposing team just because comrades died during competitive missions. Otherwise, that team would likely vanish quickly, since competitive missions always existed and unknown enemies were limitless.

There were only two reasons that would cause two Apostles or two teams to become mortal enemies. One was betrayal—not ordinary betrayal, but betrayal within a stable, mature team. Such hurtful actions were hard to accept.

The other was killing during non-competitive missions—for example, when an Apostle or team killed members of another team not for mission reasons but purely to obtain a Bloody Cube.

Once something like that happened, the outcome was always an endless feud. Qin Lun knew a clear example: the incident when Shepherd Hill and Disciple Hansen dragged him down. Those two ambushed and killed several Probationary Apostles within Star Void, and consequently were chased by Fink’s team in Nals World.

When Qin Lun and others fled the Ruins, the Chaos members had no Mission Completion Rate, so it made sense that the High-Rank Apostle did not go out of his way to intercept them. What Qin Lun did not understand was why that High-Rank Apostle never showed up.

He had deliberately let everyone scatter while fleeing partly to lure out that High-Rank Apostle, yet even when he and Gan Luo were extremely weak, that High-Rank Apostle never appeared.

Based on the sinking of the Faith, that High-Rank Apostle seemed highly intelligent and showed no fear of other teams. It was hard to imagine him simply withdrawing from the mission competition.

Yet the facts were right in front of Qin Lun; they had less than a few dozen minutes before leaving Gospel World. Whatever that person had planned, it couldn’t happen now. Considering the role Qin Lun played in the sinking of the Faith, even he was somewhat puzzled.

“Qin Lun, what’s wrong?” Robin noticed Qin Lun’s shifting expression and asked with concern.

“Nothing!” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed. No matter what, everything here was over. Although it was a bit of a regret not facing that High-Rank Apostle, he didn’t intend to keep guessing. If the other side had any moves left, he would eventually appear.

……

“Goodbye, everyone!” Qin Lun smiled as he looked at the lined-up Gith who had come to see them off—Alex, Fuyutsuki, Vera, Meri, Fiers, Sherlock…

“Officer, will you ever return to this world?” Vera’s eyes reddened as she sniffled sadly with her pretty nose.

“Vera, don’t be sad. Maybe we’ll meet again someday,” Robin hugged the Gith girl and comforted her softly.

“Bro, this is the first time I almost didn’t want to leave a Quest World,” Dean muttered gloomily.

“Dean, try to get used to this life. If you don’t want to forget, then remember—just don’t let your feelings cloud your judgment. That’s the life of an Apostle,” Loben patted his brother’s head.

On a hill in Paranto, ten tall figures with angel wings stood still, but the light in their eyes slowly faded, as if the Souls inside them were gradually vanishing, eventually becoming ten walking corpses.

Seeing that the ten Angel Bodies no longer showed signs of life, Alex raised a torch, strode forward with a determined look.

“Alex, must we really destroy them? Maybe we can keep them first—if the war with the Jannamer goes badly…” Fuyutsuki looked conflicted as she held the Flight Officer back.

“Fuyutsuki, you know that if they’re taken back, our opinions won’t matter. The higher-ups will immediately start researching the Angel Bodies, and what Officer Qin Lun warned about would be unavoidable,” Alex calmly shook his head, threw the torch onto the wood beneath the ten Angel Bodies, and watched the rising flames. “Jannamer may be strong, but we also have a chance to control our fate. However, if the Angel Race were revived through faith, our own civilization would disappear—a price no one can bear.”

……

“Apostle 70053, you have returned to the Boundary Dimension. Beginning settlement of rewards from this Otherworld Mission and granting task evaluation…”

“Note: Apostle 70053, your affiliated Silver Team made contact with and initiated the team Guidance Mission ‘Assist in Occupying X-352 Base (Lieutenant Colonel–Lieutenant Colonel Rank)’, the Main Plotline ‘Grasping Victory (Colonel–Brigadier General Rank)’, and the subsequent Main Plotline ‘Angel’s Legacy (Major General Rank)’.”

“Note: Apostle 70053, you have completed the competitive Guidance Mission ‘Assist in Occupying X-352 Base (Lieutenant Colonel–Lieutenant Colonel Rank)’. Mission Completion Rate is 100%. You obtained base mission rewards: 15,000 Shattered Crystal, 100 Exchange Voucher, 7 Contribution Points.

Completed competitive Main Plotline ‘Grasping Victory (Colonel–Brigadier General Rank)’, mission was interrupted due to plot changes later, with a Completion Rate of approximately 60%. You obtained base mission rewards: 100,000 Shattered Crystal, 20 Contribution Points, 10 Soul Life Limit.

Completed subsequent competitive Main Plotline ‘Angel’s Legacy (Major General Rank)’, Mission Completion Rate is 72%. Base mission rewards: 200,000 Shattered Crystal, 50 Contribution Points, 20 Soul Life Limit, one Advanced Occupation Certificate.

Total for three missions: 315,000 Shattered Crystal, 77 Contribution Points, 100 Exchange Voucher, and 30 Soul Life rewards. Simultaneously, task evaluation is raised by one rank; World Exploration Degree reward is increased to 300%.”

“Note: The native Gith humans on the Patroller Team’s side obtained a small amount of ‘Final Gospel’, gained part of the Angel Race’s tech inheritance, and formed an alliance with the Gigius Insectoid. According to Star Void calculations, the Angel Race’s reserved faith inheritance was interrupted due to Apostle intervention. A new chapter in the history of the four native races has begun.

The Patroller Team gained a total of 0.25% World Exploration Degree during this process, skimmed 153 World Origin points, and obtained 20 Team Promotion Points. Apostle 70053 personally obtained 0.29% World Exploration Degree. Final mission evaluation: Mid-Magic World Silver Rank!”

“Note: Apostle 70053’s World Mission settlement is complete. World Exploration Degree and plundered World Origin rewards are summarized below. Please select five from the seven options within three minutes; exceeding time will result in random distribution.”

1. 300,000 Shattered Crystal, 10,000 Exchange Voucher;

2. 90 Contribution Points;

3. Five Reflex Training Scrolls (random draw);

4. 30 Soul Life Limit;

5. Angel Race Bloodline Item (High Rank quality);

6. 35 Enhancement Energy (specific to Professional Apostle);

7. Silver Rank Task Evaluation Card for Mid-Magic World;

“Triple Exploration Rate reward!” Qin Lun inwardly praised when he saw the reward information on the selection panel.

Among the Exploration Rate rewards he had seen, this was undoubtedly the richest.

Qin Lun made his selections quickly this time, skipping the Reflex Training Scrolls and the Silver Task Evaluation Card.

The Reflex Training Scrolls were good items, but Qin Lun didn’t like gambling. That “random draw” suffix was too off-putting. Five High Rank training scrolls were certainly more valuable than 300,000 Shattered Crystal, but if he drew five low-rank ones, it wouldn’t be worth it.

After the recent major battle, Devil’s Horn was a bit unstable. Many Apostles put valuable equipment they couldn’t use but were reluctant to trade onto the exchange market. The Shattered Crystal in circulation was now a bit tight; 300,000 Shattered Crystal could buy quite a few good items.

As for the Silver Task Evaluation Card, Qin Lun now somewhat looked down on it. His strength was almost at the peak of Second Order. Unless it was a magic world like Toril, he wasn’t very interested in Silver Rank items from technology-oriented worlds like “Final Gospel”.

Of course, this Silver Task Evaluation Card still puzzled him a bit; he thought he might have a chance to get a Gold Card this time.

Four Apostle teams competed in one mission, including three High-Rank Apostles. The Patroller Team had no high-rank leader but excelled in the mission, achieving 72% Mission Completion Rate in the competitive task. Plus, with the task evaluation raised one rank, he still didn’t get a Gold Task Evaluation Card.

In other words, without the raised task evaluation, Qin Lun would only have obtained a Bronze Level task evaluation.

Star Void wouldn’t actively withhold Apostle rewards. After thinking for a moment, Qin Lun focused on a piece of information that appeared for the first time: the mention of “20 Team Points gained by the Patroller Team”.