Volume 3 Chapter 30: Death Hunt

Yoshida Junko showed an item that was not equipment, but a Skill Scroll. In the 3D projection before the Japanese girl, an ancient-looking Magic Scroll was rotating. Judged by the simulated skill effect in the projection, this was a magical defense skill formed by a Magic Circle.

The Magic Circle consisted of five circular arrays. There were four smaller circular arrays at each corner, all connected by a large circular array in the center, forming a simple-structured Magic Circle.

This Magic Circle did not disappear after activation. Instead, it seemed to be condensed by Magic Elements into a shiny mirror, shimmering with brilliant elemental colors. Within the four smaller and one larger magic circles, tiny hexagonal honeycomb structures occasionally lit up. This was also the sturdiest type of magical structure.

“Crystal Mirror Magic Array (C- Rank Active Skill): Belongs to the fourth-level elemental magic. As long as the surrounding environment contains the five major natural elements—wind, fire, water, earth, and wood—it can form the Crystal Mirror Magic Array. This skill only consumes Mana Value and has no cooldown time.

Skill Effect: The Magic Array randomly absorbs one of the five major natural elements—wind, fire, water, earth, or wood—based on the user’s elemental affinity, directly condensing the Magic Array into a Magic Crystal Mirror.

The Magic Crystal Mirror provides some defense against both physical attacks and magical attacks from enemies. When the user actively releases the Magic Array, through the interaction between Magic Elements, it unleashes a one-directional Elemental Burst.

Skill Requirement: The size of the Magic Crystal Mirror and the power of the Elemental Burst are determined by the Mana Value provided to the Magic Array by the user. The basic cost to form the Magic Array is 50 Mana units. The learning requirement is 200 Mana units.”

Qin Lun felt a slight stir in his heart. This Crystal Mirror Magic Array skill reminded him of the Hexagonal Prism Shield he had sold. The functions of the two were different in approach but equally satisfactory in result. Although one was a defensive shield and the other a magical skill, both had a counter-attack capability in addition to defense.

Of course, purely from a defensive perspective, the Magic Crystal Mirror currently could not be compared to the Hexagonal Prism Shield. After all, using it required 50 points of Mana or Energy Points, and judging by its rank, it could only defend against one attack below the fourth-level intensity. With Qin Lun’s current 165 Energy Points, he could only defend against three attacks, which was no match for the Dark Gold shield.

However, this magical skill had excellent applicability. Whether in a high-tech world or a magical world, it was hard to imagine an environment completely devoid of any natural elements. Unless in a vacuum, this simple-structured Magic Array was basically applicable to all Quest Worlds.

Perhaps in the Japanese girl’s view, this was just a relatively low-level defensive skill. Yet, Qin Lun keenly realized the true value hidden within this magical skill. The Mage who created this Magic Array likely did not originally consider it from a defensive standpoint…

These thoughts flashed through Qin Lun’s mind in an instant, but he did not show his thoughts on his face.

“This scroll should be a special treasure you obtained in some Quest World, right?” Qin Lun blinked and asked without changing his expression.

Special treasures produced in Quest Worlds were different from Reincarnator skills. The former could be used directly by Apostles, while the latter required Qin Lun to pay a certain price to have Shattered Starry Sky remove the Superstring Laws bestowed upon the scroll by the Superstring Space.

“Yes, that’s right!” Junko nodded. For her, there was nothing to hide about this.

“In that case, I’ll exchange it with a special treasure too!” Qin Lun smiled and took out World Tree Dew from his Storage Space. “Besides the Healing Bandage, I’ll give you half a bottle of World Tree Dew!”

Yoshida Junko looked at the projection introduction of the World Tree Dew, and a hint of pleasant surprise flashed across her face.

“Such a small bottle… even half is only about five drops. Its value can’t compare to the scroll!” Junko licked her dry lips and said with dissatisfaction.

“Heh, don’t be too greedy. World Tree Dew is different from ordinary recovery items. Given your current condition, only World Tree Dew can compensate for the weakness caused by massive blood loss and let you quickly regain combat ability.” Qin Lun smiled and shook his head, hitting the nail on the head. “Your mission time is limited. The faster you recover, the more you can gain later.”

The Japanese girl fell silent, a struggle appearing on her face. Finally, after bargaining between the two, Qin Lun exchanged the Healing Bandage plus seven drops of World Tree Dew for the Crystal Mirror Magic Array scroll.

Qin Lun satisfactorily put away the Magic Array scroll. This thing required a base of 200 Mana points to learn. He only had 165 Energy Points, so he couldn’t use it for now. He guessed Yoshida Junko also hadn’t used the scroll for this reason. After all, at their strength level, having one more piece of defensive equipment or skill was equivalent to having an extra life. If she could use it, she wouldn’t have kept it unused.

After the transaction was completed, Yoshida Junko immediately used the Healing Bandage. Qin Lun also clearly saw the wound on her abdomen. It was a nearly twenty-centimeter-long knife wound, almost gutting the Japanese girl on the spot. No wonder even with a Reincarnator’s Law Body, she couldn’t stop the bleeding or heal naturally, and could only use ordinary recovery medicine to delay death.

World Tree Dew indeed far surpassed ordinary recovery items in replenishing life force. Just three drops of the dew brought a hint of color back to the face of the heavily blood-loss Japanese girl.

“Alright, now it’s time to show me your mission list, right?” Qin Lun waited until Junko finished all this before bringing up the final part of the transaction again.

The Japanese girl looked at the young man, muttered something under her breath, and reluctantly displayed her mission list. Although she still had some doubts about Qin Lun wanting to see the mission list, actions were the best proof.

If he wanted to kill her, Qin Lun wouldn’t have waited for her to recover. Just after the transaction was completed, the young man would have acted directly.

“Faction Mission!” Looking at Yoshida Junko’s mission list, Qin Lun’s pupils contracted sharply.

In Junko’s mission list, besides the initial Main Quests and Side Missions, there was an additional Faction Mission. As a Reincarnator of the Oni Clan, Yoshida Junko’s mission requirement was to oppose and hunt down Reincarnators of the Phantom Demon faction.

No wonder the Japanese girl was so nervous earlier. Although Qin Lun and she were in the same team when they first entered the Phantom Demon World, this couldn’t rule out the possibility that the young man had joined the Phantom Demon faction midway.

This Faction Mission had participation requirements. Besides Reincarnator level, there were also requirements for the mission area. In short, novice Reincarnators and those who hadn’t entered certain specific areas couldn’t undertake the Faction Mission. The Phantom Demon base beneath their feet was one of the areas for faction hunting!

“Apostle 70053, the Reincarnator intelligence you obtained satisfies the hunting clause of the Apostle Covenant. Triggering the Death Hunting Mission.”

“Death Hunt: According to the hunting clause of the Apostle Covenant, Shattered Starry Sky will reward Apostles for actively hunting Reincarnators. This reward clause takes precedence over other mission rewards, with priority second only to the Time-Space Core mission. Reward content will be calculated upon return, based on the number and level of Reincarnators killed.”

“Prompt: The Reincarnator intelligence obtained by Apostle 70053 will be released to all Apostles in the Phantom Demon World. The currently confirmed faction hunting area is the Phantom Demon Undersea Temple. As the intelligence obtainer, Apostle 70053 will have their mission evaluation raised by one rank upon return.”

“Death Hunt…” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed, and a trace of inexplicable meaning appeared at the corner of his mouth.

If when he first entered the Phantom Demon World, he was only suspicious, then the current situation was very clear. Shattered Starry Sky and Superstring Space indeed had some kind of relationship. Based on the current intelligence, at the very least, Shattered Starry Sky was definitely not friendly towards Superstring Space.

“I can move freely now. You… shall we move together?” Yoshida Junko’s complexion looked much better, and she looked at Qin Lun with a hint of expectation.

“Oh… What do you plan to do next?” Qin Lun snapped out of his thoughts and asked with a smile. A cold glint flashed deep within his pupils as he looked at Yoshida Junko.

If before, he didn’t have a strong desire to kill the Japanese girl, then after the appearance of the Death Hunting Mission, it finally sparked an idea. Given Qin Lun’s personality, he didn’t have as strong an interest in killing as Joey did. Of course, if the Japanese girl had no further use value, he might very well set a trap for her.

“This is a large Undersea Temple, and also a very important base for the Phantom Demon race. Before entering the Phantom Demon World, Matthew spent a great deal to acquire a copy of the Phantom Demon Rumors Record. This was the most important reason why we broke through here so quickly, but…” Junko said somewhat bitterly.

“But you didn’t expect the Phantom Demon World to have a faction confrontation mission!” Qin Lun smiled faintly; he understood immediately.

The strength of Matthew’s trio wasn’t actually high. They managed to break through here only because they made many targeted preparations. This also benefited Qin Lun greatly. If these Reincarnators hadn’t cleared the trap Phantom Demons in the maze, he wouldn’t have been able to follow behind and reach this place.

In terms of Qin Lun’s combat power, except for the first Time-Space Core, most of the subsequent gains were thanks to rational judgment. Of course, there was also some very fortunate opportunistic gains.

“How did you get injured? Where are your other companions now?” Qin Lun asked gently with a smile on his face.

After the transaction, the Japanese girl’s mood relaxed considerably. She sighed and recounted the previous experiences of her trio. Besides Matthew’s trio, the experiences of the other three newcomers were roughly similar to what Qin Lun had previously deduced.

However, Yoshida Junko’s injury wasn’t caused by Reincarnators from another faction, but because they encountered Phantom Demon guards here. The stone door opposite this corridor was guarded by two Bow Ashi and two Dark Crows.

(Dark Crows: Ninjas transformed into Phantom Demons.)

Although Matthew’s trio dealt with the four Phantom Demons, restricted by the terrain, the three also paid a considerable price. Among them, Yoshida Junko was the most severely injured and had to stay here, waiting bitterly for Matthew and the other.

Their Phantom Demon Pearls already satisfied the first Main Quest, but Yoshida Junko’s injury absolutely couldn’t wait until after seven days. The only hope for a quick return was to wait for Matthew and the other to complete the second Main Quest and obtain 1000 Faction Reputation.

“We were too careless. Even with the map intelligence from the Phantom Demon Rumors Record, we shouldn’t have entered this Phantom Demon base!” Junko said with a bitter smile. “Although the Phantom Demons invaded Paris and took most of the Phantom Demon guards with them, there are still many Phantom Demons guarding the Undersea Temple.”

“So that means, you haven’t encountered Reincarnators from other factions yet?” Qin Lun narrowed his eyes slightly.