Book 10: Chapter 65: Allocating Adventure Slots

“What are the requirements to join this kind of club?” Qin Lun asked curiously.

“The club doesn’t have any joining requirements; you just need to reach High Rank. For Second-Order Apostles, you only need one High-Rank companion to act as a guarantor to become a provisional member. However, Second-Order Apostles cannot post collaboration projects within the club; they can only perform simple auction operations.”

After Kelly finished speaking, she stole a glance at Qin Lun’s expression. Seeing the young man’s eyes darting around shrewdly, she immediately teased him with a light chuckle, “Are you already thinking of crooked ideas, planning to buy and resell between the club and the city?”

“Ahem!” Qin Lun gave an awkward, dry laugh. Upon hearing this news, his first thought indeed was about buying and reselling.

“Don’t think too much about it; it’s impossible.” Kelly vigorously patted Qin Lun’s shoulder and laughed heartily, “Although this kind of club is run by Apostles, the small Demiplane used for the venue is provided by Shattered Starry Sky. The main purpose is to maintain fairness and impartiality, preventing anyone from being robbed or cheated.”

“However, because each high-end club has a limited number of members, the Demiplane maintenance fee allocated per person is very high. The entrance ticket to the club each time costs one hundred thousand Shattered Crystals, and the transaction tax is as high as 10% to 20%.” As Kelly spoke, she suppressed her smile and said with a bitter expression, “Every time I go, it feels painful, like flesh being cut. If you really had the ability to buy and sell within there, I might as well just follow you from now on.”

“An entrance ticket costs one hundred thousand, plus a 20% transaction tax…” Qin Lun couldn’t help but let out a helpless, bitter laugh. He currently had over seven hundred thousand Shattered Crystals, but after deducting the ticket price and the transaction tax, he estimated only about five hundred thousand Shattered Crystals would be available for transactions.

Every Legendary Item cost at least several hundred thousand, or even millions. Five hundred thousand Shattered Crystals probably couldn’t buy anything good. Paying over two hundred thousand in fees for that was completely not worth it.

However, upon second thought, Qin Lun still wanted to see it for himself. His own funds weren’t enough, but if he pooled resources with the other Serial Killers, they could still buy something. Especially since if they were going to Toril World next, they would need to get some high-level Magic Scrolls for protection.

“Alright, I’ve given you the information. Come to the headquarters at this time three days from now. If you’re not here on time, I won’t wait for you!” Kelly stood up and waved her hand at Qin Lun.

…

“Master, you’re back!” Didi stood on the villa’s front steps, jumping for joy. Compared to Sif’s reserve, the little Goblin was always the happiest whenever he saw Qin Lun return.

“How was the training these past few days? Was Miss Integra very strict?” Qin Lun rubbed Didi’s head and said with a smile.

Due to the team’s personnel adjustments, Didi and Sif still had about a day or two before entering the Quest World. The person in charge of leading the team this time was Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, the head of the HELLSING organization whom Grant revived after the Divine Comedy World.

“Master, Miss Integra is actually very gentle. If you don’t believe me, ask Sif,” Didi retorted in surprise.

“Oh, really?” Qin Lun glanced at Sif and noticed that the little girl, who usually didn’t get along well with Didi, surprisingly nodded in agreement this time.

“Alright, let’s go inside and talk.” Qin Lun shrugged indifferently. It seemed that after being relieved of the heavy burden on her shoulders, Integra had undergone new changes as well.

“Master, tell us about your adventure with Lord Frank this time!” Once they reached the villa’s living room, Didi obediently poured Qin Lun a glass of wine.

Although Sif didn’t say anything, her pair of bright, large eyes glistened as she stared intently at Qin Lun, sitting to the side with an expectant look.

“Alright!” Qin Lun smiled, swirled his wine glass, and began telling the story of their mission world this time. Ever since Didi became an Apostle, the little guy often pestered Qin Lun to recount his adventures.

The little Goblin was small but sharp; he didn’t just want Qin Lun to tell stories for fun, but hoped to increase his own experience through this method. Qin Lun sometimes also had them recount their own experiences, pointing out possible mistakes they might have made in the Quest World.

However, although Qin Lun would point out their mistakes, he wouldn’t tell them exactly what they should do. His way of doing things wasn’t suitable for Didi and the other two to learn from. He hoped the three of them would think for themselves and find their own paths.

“Lord Frank can already undergo Class Change?” After listening to Qin Lun’s story, Didi looked at Frank and said gloomily, “Sigh, I wonder when I will meet the Class Change requirements. It seems it will be a long time before I can carry out Otherworld Missions with Master!”

Beside him, Sif nodded her little head with a similarly distressed expression. Qin Lun looked at the two children and couldn’t help but chuckle silently. He had previously considered training a few servants to assist him in the Quest World, but he no longer had that thought now.

His strength increased too quickly. Even Frank, who just underwent Class Change, could hardly keep up with him anymore, let alone Sif and Didi. Just look at the Toril World he was about to enter; even with Frank’s current strength, he would be a burden, so he could only let Frank continue with Didi and Sif as a team.

Before these servants of his reached Second Order, they probably wouldn’t have another chance to join him on missions. Their assistance to the Serial Killer Team, along with the servants of the other Serial Killers—such as Lili, Silva, Integra, and others—would no longer be limited to the Quest World. The focus would shift to affiliated forces.

Through the recent crisis with the Order Front, Qin Lun had realized that as their strength and reputation grew, these Serial Killers were gradually entering the sights of large teams. In the future, their troubles would increase more and more. Relying solely on the five of them, they would inevitably reach a point where they couldn’t handle it all, forcing them to start building some affiliated forces. Perhaps this was the origin of those large teams.

After playing with the two children for a while, Qin Lun went back to his room to rest. The night passed without incident. The day after his return, Hill and the other three received his notification and gathered in the villa’s living room.

“Qin Lun, that Apostle club you mentioned—can we participate?” Hill asked cautiously.

“The entry ticket alone is one hundred thousand Shattered Crystals, plus a 10% to 20% transaction tax. With our financial resources, if we trade individually, we probably can’t buy anything particularly good.” Hansen said expressionlessly, “If we trust him, we pool our funds. If we don’t trust him, we just forget about it.”

“We should definitely go. Even if we don’t buy Legendary Equipment, obtaining a few high-level Magic Scrolls would still be good.” Hill smiled nonchalantly, “It’s just that our liquid funds certainly aren’t enough to buy five pieces of Legendary or above equipment. We can only afford two or three preparatory items, so how to allocate them becomes a big problem.”

“Let’s not discuss this matter for now. I’m just informing you of the news. However, there’s another matter that is extremely urgent and requires you to make a choice.” Qin Lun said seriously, “Actually, once this is decided, perhaps the issue of how to allocate the club auction items will resolve itself.”

“Haha, you always bring us some surprises. What exactly is it?” Rand asked with a laugh.

“Hill, when you and Grant led the Lost sub-team this time, did you kill a High-Rank member of Chaos?” Qin Lun turned and asked.

“Mm, correct. Did Kelly tell you?” The Shepherd and the Joker exchanged a glance and asked cautiously, “Has trouble already come knocking?”

“Not clear yet. Kelly just said the other side might seek private revenge and asked me to remind you to lay low for a while.” Qin Lun relayed Kelly’s exact words to the two.

“Hey, this matter has nothing to do with me!” Grant chuckled and glanced at the Shepherd, snickering, “The one who comes up with the bad ideas always attracts more hatred. Just stay away from Father Hill from now on, and you’ll be fine.”

“Oh, what exactly happened?” After Qin Lun asked for details, he found out that the High-Rank Apostle from Chaos wasn’t taken down by Grant and Hill working together as he had imagined, but was actually the Shepherd’s solo achievement.

The Cannibal Priest first pretended to surrender, then rebelled again, infuriating the High-Rank Apostle. Caught off guard, the enemy was lured into a forbidden area, where he was gradually worn down and killed by mechanical traps.

Such despicable behavior would naturally provoke indignation from the Chaos Team. However, during the back-and-forth, aside from deliberately provoking the enemy’s anger, Hill never directly attacked, giving the other side no grounds to launch a team war.

“Actually, it was an accident. The mechanical traps in that forbidden area were unexpectedly powerful.” Hill said with a bitter smile, “But fortunately, most of the traps were forcefully broken by that High-Rank Apostle; otherwise, we might have had trouble completing the Main Plotline later on.”

“Enough about that. Qin Lun, quickly tell us your matter.” Hansen calmly brought everyone back to the main topic.

“Alright, it’s like this…” Qin Lun took out the Uvellen Obelisk and the Cloudtop City model from his Storage Space, placing the two World Tokens on the table. He briefly introduced the Toril World.

“A fantasy world with countless legends and deities…” As Qin Lun spoke, the eyes of the Serial Killers gradually brightened.

“What a pity, only four people can enter!” Grant looked somewhat regretfully at the two World Tokens and said hesitantly, “Nobody wants to voluntarily withdraw from this adventure, right?”

“You’re mistaken; only three people can enter.” Qin Lun raised a finger and shook it, “Even though I have the Uvellen Obelisk, I still must occupy one of the team token’s teleportation slots. Otherwise, after you enter, you might end up in different locations, unable to access the epic-level plot brought by my Plot Identity.”

“I understand what Qin Lun means.” Rand’s eyes flickered, and he said with a smile, “Are you planning to let the companion who gives up the adventure slot receive the Legendary Equipment from the Apostle club transaction first?”

“Haha, that would indeed be fair, but it definitely isn’t this guy’s original intention.” Hill shook his head with a laugh, “Rand, you’ve interacted with him the least, so you probably don’t know him well enough. What this guy means is to let the companions joining the adventure receive the equipment and items from the Apostle club transaction first; that would be the most efficient.”

“You really do understand me!” Qin Lun looked at Hill and sighed. Sometimes it felt quite boring when two clever people were together.

“Rand, don’t worry about it being unfair. The Toril World is very dangerous; equipping the companions participating in the adventure as much as possible is the most efficient approach. And the two who withdraw from the adventure aren’t at a disadvantage. The Shattered Crystals they sponsor this time will be compensated with equipment and skills we obtain from the Toril World.”

Rand wasn’t stupid. As soon as Qin Lun explained, he immediately understood.

Their desire to enter the Toril World was originally to diversify their class skills. Moreover, the skill requirements of the five of them differed. If the three participating in the adventure promised to compensate the other two who didn’t participate with class skills upon their return, naturally everyone would be happy.