Chapter 1 Continuous Combat

Back in the familiar space of the mysterious bar, Li Mingxing was greeted by Raymond’s warm smile. In Raymond's hand, the blade—forged from the +1 Swordsmanship skill within the mythic layer of the inner world—was pulsing with a faint glow.

"You performed exceptionally well this time," Raymond said, raising his head as he noticed Li Mingxing approaching. "Your rating is C+. If the God of Shadows and Apollo had both perished, you would have achieved a B-."

"They didn't die?" Li Mingxing asked, genuinely surprised by the news.

"No. I just received intelligence that two faint divine presences escaped from that inner world into another one within the realm of adventures. What, are you planning to hunt them down? This is the best opportunity to do so. Once they recover, even if you manage to track them down, you might not be their match anymore." Raymond gazed at Li Mingxing intently.

"Hunt them down?" Li Mingxing felt a surge of temptation. He knew that if he failed to eliminate these two deities, he would never have peace of mind to deal with his remaining affairs. After all, these enemies possessed the power of gods. If they fully recovered, they would undoubtedly launch a retaliatory attack against him. By that time, no matter how powerful Li Mingxing became, he would not stand a chance against them.

For his own safety, Li Mingxing posed only two questions: first, what level of strength did those two deities currently possess; and second, would this upcoming operation count as an official mission for him?

After studying Li Mingxing for a long moment, Raymond finally replied, "Yes, it counts. I can calculate this as a separate mission for you. If you kill one of them, it will be counted as completing an elementary mission. If you manage to kill both, it will be considered a completion of an intermediate mission. How does that sound?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Li Mingxing nodded in agreement.

With Li Mingxing's consent, Raymond needed to make preparations. Because Li Mingxing had entered the mythic layer in the previous inner world and couldn't bring his troops along, some of his rewards had yet to be collected. Coupled with the additional reward for this current operation, everything needed to be prepared for him.

Furthermore, Raymond had to contact the Dark League to find out where the two deities had fled, secure a safe passage across worlds, and gather intelligence on that particular inner world for Li Mingxing. Should any extreme danger arise, he needed to warn Li Mingxing in advance not to enter blindly.

Since time was of the essence, Raymond gave Li Mingxing one day to return to the real world, check on the development of his city, and then return to await further instructions.

As for the rewards from the previous mission, Li Mingxing had already received a portion of them. The remainder consisted of the previously deferred rewards and the new supplementary reward, which could only be chosen after Li Mingxing obtained intelligence on the next inner world.

Of course, the items promised to Li Mingxing earlier were already in his possession. Aside from the Level 0 Flying Swordsmanship learned in the mythic layer, Li Mingxing was also allowed to retain the essence of Level 6 Swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Aisha retained Level 6 Mana Control, and Zheng retained Level 6 Stamina Control—the exact same as Aisha's. Naturally, these three skills were temporarily sealed.

As long as any of their other skills reached Level 4, these Level 6 skills would automatically be unsealed. Moreover, any previously learned skills of the same type would be converted into a certain amount of experience and integrated into the newly unsealed skill.

This was undoubtedly fantastic news for Li Mingxing and his group. It meant that as soon as they pushed any basic skill to Level 4, they could sweep through all novice heroes with their Level 6 abilities.

Rejoicing over such a harvest, Li Mingxing momentarily pushed all thoughts of future dangers to the back of his mind. Accompanied by Zheng and the others, he returned to his own city.

At this point, his city hadn't undergone any dramatic changes. The three buildings designated during his last visit had already been erected. Upon seeing the blueprints for the tavern that Li Mingxing had brought back, Zhao Wenbin, the person in charge of urban construction, couldn't help but comment, "My lord, no offense, but your city has far too many auxiliary buildings. If this continues, you won't have any space left to build various training camps."

After pondering for a moment, Li Mingxing replied, "Don't you worry about that. Just get these completed first. The next time I return, I'll undertake the mission to upgrade the city level and expand the territory." Hearing this, Zhao Wenbin naturally had nothing more to say and proceeded to carry out Li Mingxing's instructions. Before that, however, he escorted Li Mingxing to inspect the three newly constructed buildings.

Because Li Mingxing had left in a rush last time, he hadn't even had the chance to witness the effects of the mission-reward buildings he had worked so hard to acquire. Now that he had some spare time, he naturally wanted to check them out.

Upon entering the city, Li Mingxing began to understand why Zhao Wenbin had made that remark earlier. His city was now packed densely with all sorts of structures. One of the three new buildings stood right beside the breeding farm, while the other two were erected near the two shrines.

Since Li Mingxing needed to consult Di Jun regarding the divine power he had borrowed previously, he headed first toward the building erected near the Temple of Di Jun.

This particular building was one Li Mingxing had chosen deliberately. In order to complete the mission quickly and enter the inner world sooner, he had opted for the fastest method available, meaning the final reward wasn't entirely to his satisfaction. Judging by the current state of things, however, Zhao Wenbin was quite resourceful; he had managed to utilize novel architectural techniques to compensate for the shortcomings left behind during Li Mingxing's rushed mission completion.

Seeing this, Li Mingxing felt even more pleased with Zhao Wenbin. With a nod of approval, he stepped inside the building. The moment he crossed the threshold, however, he sensed that something was amiss. This structure, known as an amphitheater, was primarily designed to boost morale, functioning similarly to a tavern, though it lacked the tavern's capabilities for gathering intelligence or recruiting heroes.

Yet, there were no performances or speeches taking place here, and naturally, no one present to inspire high morale for Li Mingxing.

Li Mingxing's expression chilled as he asked, "What is the meaning of this?"

"We are still lacking a college to train professional speakers," Zhao Wenbin explained, perfectly aware of the issue. "For now, I can only temporarily invite a few temple servants or priests to give speeches, but none of the fierce demon slaves are willing to listen to them."

"It seems the oversight is mine. Just keep things running like this for now; I will find the blueprints for a college in a short while," Li Mingxing said calmly.

Next, he inspected the remaining two buildings. Much like the amphitheater, these structures were currently operating below full capacity due to a lack of specialized personnel.

This situation gave Li Mingxing further insight: when selecting buildings in the future, he could no longer focus solely on tasks he was capable of or wanted to do; he also had to account for the necessary auxiliary structures required to bring out their full potential. Fortunately, his luck wasn't entirely bad this time—there were only three such underutilized buildings, leaving him plenty of time to correct his faulty planning. If he only realized this after everyone else had reached the village tier, his meager early-game advantage would vanish completely.

Li Mingxing resolved that once this mission was completed, he would return immediately to build the required auxiliary structures. Of course, this was contingent upon first upgrading his city to the town tier.

After walking through the city, Li Mingxing headed out to the residential district located just beyond the city walls. By now, the entire enclave had transformed into a shadowy forest filled with dark trees, purple and black leaves, and an overwhelming canopy that blocked out even the sunlight.

Here, Li Mingxing carefully retrieved the small cluster of nature aura bestowed upon him by the Goddess of Nature. Legend had it that this aura, once buried within a forest, would naturally expand and actively protect the one who planted it and their friends.

Ordinarily, having obtained such an item, Li Mingxing should have taken it into the inner world composed entirely of forests. Planting it there would have allowed him to eventually control that entire woodland after a period of time.

Ultimately, however, Li Mingxing chose to bury this cluster of nature aura within his own semi-independent spatial enclave, purely to ensure the security of this residential district.

Once the nature aura was securely buried, Li Mingxing summoned several druids from the Wood Elf Legion, instructing them to take advantage of the time to classify and back up the tree seeds given by the Forest Goddess, and if possible, plant them directly within this forest.

Without a word of complaint about having only a single day to process such a massive batch of seeds, the young druid maidens of the Wood Elf Legion bowed and retreated to their work.

After they departed, Li Mingxing decided against visiting his mercenary camp. Although he was eager to raise the level of his Flying Swordsmanship, he understood that if he elevated any skill to Level 2 right now, he would forfeit Raymond's continued assistance.

Therefore, he willingly suppressed that urge and went instead to rest at Zheng's home, preparing himself mentally for the battles that would commence tomorrow.

In the warmth of Zheng's home, the two embraced and slept soundly for over a dozen hours. When Li Mingxing woke up, the sky was already bright. Zheng had already prepared food for him and resumed her daily training. Watching her focused form, Li Mingxing felt a wave of profound warmth wash over him, and he silently vowed to use all his strength to protect this hard-earned peace.