Sun Hao was an ordinary college student with no particular hobbies besides reading novels.
Not long ago, when school was suspended, he was preparing to return to his hometown but somehow ended up here.
He almost thought he had stumbled into a pyramid scheme. Upon seeing the giant beast in the mist and learning about the world's reality from other 'senior veterans', he was flabbergasted, exclaiming that his opportunity had arrived.
Thus, he had currently taken on the mission of patrolling and standing guard, working shifts with other non-core personnel.
He was well aware there was no real danger.
This place could be considered one of the safest on Earth. The purpose of standing guard was merely to prevent accidental intrusions… One couldn't simply enter the training base, but if someone was frightened, well, that would be quite unnecessary.
"For standing guard in our shift, besides the salary, we get 0.05 organization contributions per day. It's just that the contribution points are a bit low."
"You think it's low?" The more senior brother beside him, Luo Feiyu, chuckled and shook his head. "Newcomer, don't underestimate these contribution points just because you got lucky once."
"In just two months, you can save up enough contribution points to exchange for a physical conditioning elixir. Once you drink it, our strength and speed will greatly increase, giving us a higher chance to stand out in the newcomer selection and soar to great heights."
"It's a pity, though, that these guard duties change weekly. Next week, this cushy job won't be ours."
"Oh, right," Luo Feiyu added. "Another benefit of this guard duty is that we can use this time to train… What's with that look? It's all tacitly allowed, as long as you don't leave your post."
Luo Feiyu was strapping weights onto himself, attempting to stretch his arms, and continued, "We say we're on guard duty to prevent outsiders from entering, but in reality, who would come to such a place? Who dares to venture into remote areas these days?"
Sun Hao agreed.
However, he couldn't be as seasoned as Brother Luo, who was already training. He still felt that guard duty should be taken seriously. After all, they were guardians in the dark, so they had to be responsible.
Even if he himself was merely a reserve of reserves right now.
"I-Instructor?!"
Sun Hao's eyes suddenly widened.
He was a brand new newcomer, having been here only two days. When he arrived, Instructor Black Blade was no longer at the training base, so he hadn't met him.
He had only seen a photo of this instructor.
Dressed in black, with a mask covering his face, there couldn't be anyone else dressed like that.
While he was still stunned, the veteran brother Luo Feiyu had already strode forward, cupped his fist over his heart, and reported, "Instructor, student number 0286 Luo Feiyu reporting. To date, no unauthorized individuals have entered this area."
Sun Hao was dumbfounded.
After a long pause, he quickly stepped forward, a little nervously, and said, "I-Instructor."
He lowered his head, then stealthily glanced up.
In the two days he had been here, apart from the giant fog beasts encountered during the mountain climbing assessment, he hadn't witnessed any extraordinary powers.
It was said that the 'Xin Huo' elders who joined before them had all gone out on missions.
He could only imagine through the descriptions of the 'semi-newcomers', the most frequently mentioned being Instructor Black Blade.
The semi-newcomers hadn't seen the instructor truly fight, but it was said that a mere glance from the instructor could make them feel as if a mountain was pressing down on them, or as if they were falling directly from a great height.
A single glance could make them all faint.
There were many legends about the instructor. Sun Hao couldn't help but steal another glance and saw a large man, wrapped in bandages and sweating profusely, following behind the instructor.
As the newcomers quietly observed him, Xing Jinglei surveyed the surrounding environment.
A faint white mist swirled, like a scene from an immortal's dwelling.
This was indeed the headquarters of their Xin Huo, so ethereal.
Moreover,
it was said that this white mist originated from a powerful詭器 (guǐqì - anomalous artifact), which enveloped the entire mountain peak, capable of blocking outsiders and possessing formidable defensive and offensive power.
Thinking this, a "ding-dong" sound echoed in Xing Jinglei's mind, and a task popped up.
"Test the self-defense capabilities of the White Mist Realm?"
"A mission like this… I like it!"
…
Black Blade ascended the mountain first, while Xing Jinglei waited below for a moment, chatting with two newcomers.
No, what he said was the absolute truth.
"Back then, anomalies were everywhere, surging in like a tide. I, fearless, forged a bloody path with my iron fists, making the anomalies wail like ghosts and wolves."
"It's no exaggeration to say that we three—myself, Black Blade, and Miss An—annihilated at least half of the powerful anomalies, making outstanding contributions."
"In a moment, you will witness my heroic presence!"
The man wrapped in bandages, covered in sweat, climbed the mountain step by step along the winding path.
The white mist grew thicker.
Soon, fog beasts appeared. Xing Jinglei laughed heartily and struck out with his fists like cannonballs.
In an instant, the fog beasts disintegrated, and a wide passage was blasted through the dense white mist, which gradually reformed after a while.
This left Sun Hao and the other newcomer wide-eyed and utterly dumbfounded.
They watched the dust explosions and shattered trees on the mountain road, listening to the thunderous roars like artillery fire, and swallowed their saliva. "Could it be that what this big brother just said was all true? We might have misjudged him, and lost a great ally!"
The booming explosions and flying dust gradually receded from their sight.
The burly man sped forward along the cement-paved road.
The white mist became increasingly dense, and more fog beasts appeared before him. Xing Jinglei showed no fear, laughing heartily.
Come, fight again!
Waves of explosions, intermittent, lasted for about half an hour.
In front of the resort gate, thick white mist churned.
Suddenly, a figure shot out like a cannonball, landing heavily. The stone slabs cracked like a spiderweb.
Xing Jinglei looked disheveled, but his posture remained dashing.
Looking at the white mist that no longer appeared behind him, he burst into laughter.
At the same time, a mechanical prompt sounded in his mind.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, Apostle Xing Jinglei, for completing the test mission. The overall evaluation for this mission is as follows…"
"Base mission contribution: 12 points. However, due to Apostle Xing Jinglei destroying 15 sections of road, demolishing 39 ornamental trees, and causing devastating damage to multiple guardrails during the mission, after comprehensive evaluation and deduction of contribution points, this mission yielded a total of 3.9 Xin Huo contributions."
Xing Jinglei stumbled.
Cough, there might have been a few mistakes, but the mission was generally profitable. As long as it was profitable, that was fine.
The Xin Huo headquarters had finally been reached.
This time, he would catch up to Black Blade here and suppress him!
Gaga gaga gaga—
"Let's go, your mentor is waiting for you in the secret realm's base."
"Oh, oh."
Xing Jinglei followed Black Blade deeper into the resort.
After walking for a moment, he froze.
Wait, what secret realm? What base?
He looked at the slowly opening gate before him, exuding a faint golden light, and fell into a daze.
…
"Xing Jinglei still has a lot of energy, actually going to spar with Black Blade."
"However, it's truly only now that he can spar with Black Blade to some extent. In another half a day to a day, Black Blade will be a third-tier awakened one."
Fang You had considerable confidence in Brother Black Blade; the probability of him succeeding in one go was high.
As for that girl An Jianyou, it was hard to say.
Yes, the current accumulation was enough for breakthroughs. Pei Hongjing could also aim for a second awakening.
As for the new batch of recruits…
"There were eight people who met the conditions before, but the recruitment tokens were insufficient, so they were slightly delayed. Today, the ceremony can be held to expand the number of apostles."
Fang You opened the Salvation Game and browsed briefly.
There were 18 secondary apostle recruitment tokens, not many, but overall there were still ways to obtain them. Even if they weren't enough, skill fruits could be made available for external personnel to exchange in the future.
Secondary apostles could only enjoy secondary benefits. After this period of testing and information gathering, it could be confirmed that they received fewer destiny points and mystery points, and there was a daily usage limit for skill cards, among other things.
But 'secondary apostle' was just the Salvation Game's own definition.
He couldn't call them secondary, nor could they remain secondary forever.
As the number of Xin Huo personnel increased, a more complete organizational structure and promotion channel were needed, even if secondary apostles, under normal circumstances, could not compare to destiny apostles in terms of potential.
The gap would only widen.
There also needed to be a possibility for promotion.
Who knew, perhaps secondary apostles might have the chance to be promoted to destiny apostles in the future.
He pondered, "Perhaps I can establish a set of internal… honorific titles."
Honorific titles would be unrelated to positions but would represent the contributions and status of Xin Huo members, while also allowing them to enjoy higher welfare benefits.
However,
he was still undecided about the specific naming of these titles.
His temporary ideas were:
Spark, Fire Keeper, Torchbearer, Lamp Lighter.