What happened this morning had already spread throughout the Border City.
The Seaside Daily had reported it first. Those journalism students had noses as keen as dogs.
They first pulled yesterday's headline, #Upholding Justice! Holy Knight Calvin's Secret Witch Hunt#,
and replaced it with the latest hot topic, #Shocking! The Holy See Comes Up Empty-Handed for the First Time in Sixty Years—And It's All Because of Him?#
Other newspapers followed with reports such as #The Nameless Hero, Guardian of the Dark Night in the Border City#
#The Big Reveal! The True Face Behind the Nameless Hero#
#Why Have the Border Esoteric Cultists Vanished So Strangely? Why Has The Radiant One Remained Silent? Is This the Distortion of Human Nature, or the Decline of Morality?#
All sorts of bizarre rumors, embellished by the media, grew wildly throughout the Border City like weeds after spring rain.
It seemed the public was indeed very interested in this news.
Naturally.
After all, the aloof image of a mysterious, powerful Dark Night Hero who did not leave his name was exactly what maidens loved and what young men admired.
And he did not charge money.
When the Holy See purged Esoteric Cultists, it levied tithes from the people.
Now that a hero had suddenly appeared and quietly gotten things done without taking a cent, of course he was popular.
What the public cared about most now was the identities of these heroes.
As the buzz continued to build, the Holy See's Holy Knights failing last night and Acolyte Saint Calvin's loss of composure also spread.
The following two days were rather uneventful.
As Ansu's industrialized system for sacrificing Sacrifice Esoteric Cultists was initially established, sacrifices became an assembly-line operation.
On the second day, he gained 90 Life Points and 60 Faith Points.
The cleanup range expanded from a radius of ten kilometers to fifteen kilometers.
The Holy See never cleaned out nearby strongholds too thoroughly.
After all, it had to leave behind some seeds so they could grow again when the spring breeze returned next year. That was sustainable overfishing.
But Brother Xian Zong was different.
Following the principle of killing them all, he did not spare a single one—once he finished wiping them out, he could just move somewhere else. Ansu was not going to stay in the Border City forever anyway.
One thing was certain: for at least the next year, child abduction cases in the Border City would be cut in half.
Ansu cleaned up quite thoroughly. After making Enya mop the floor, he became even more excessive.
The bastard even took away the Esoteric Cultists' altars and dug up every patch of grass.
He prepared a large carriage and loaded up all the Ritual Utensils—human heads, human skin, sacrificial filth, forbidden tomes, everything—and hauled them away to bury somewhere himself.
In Ansu's words, since we're already here.
Maybe they would come in handy someday.
At the same time, his second secret identity became more and more popular in the Border City, with blazing momentum.
The media called him the Dark Night Hero and the Heretic Bane.
The entire city was searching for the identities of these heroes.
By the third day, his gains were nowhere near as good as the first two.
Perhaps he had been too active over the previous two days. The Esoteric Cultists had caught wind of things, learned of this bane of evil, and realized that some terrifying powerhouse was slaughtering people across the border. Even Esoteric Cultists, who usually feared no death, started to cower.
How about taking a day off this year?
The Esoteric Cultists had been slaughtered into taking annual leave.
On the third day, he only gained 20 Life Points and 15 unconverted Faith Points.
Thus, his total income over three days was 170 Life Points and 115 Faith Points.
He had already spent 40 Faith Points on the first day, exchanging them for four Magic Points and becoming a Second-tier Sorcerer.
Upon reaching Second-tier Sorcerer, the exchange ratio became 20:1.
Ansu spent another sixty Faith Points, raising his total mana to 13.
As for the remaining 25 Faith Points, he planned to exchange them for several low-tier Holy Light Magic spells to complement his abilities.
He used his Life Points to exchange for a large number of spells: several Low-tier Magic Books, one intermediate Dark Magic Book, and one advanced Dark Magic Book.
Among those low-tier spells were Magic Books from elements other than the Dark Element—after all, the Mother Goddess did not only hold authority over darkness.
When a Child of Curse used Dark Magic, the mana cost was halved. Thus, he could use intermediate spells as low-tier ones and advanced spells as intermediate ones. It was barely enough.
He had 10 Life Points left, so he put them all into improving his physical attributes.
At this point, his Light-Dark Priest School of Thought system had taken its initial form and reached the First Stage.
On the third day, earlier in the day, when business had barely begun, Ansu's great undertaking ran into an accident.
Ansu encountered the Holy See's Holy Knights.
Calling them the Holy See's Holy Knights was a bit of a stretch.
Because there was only Calvin.
They seemed to have split up.
Ansu had heard that he had gotten into a minor conflict with the Knights Order.
After failing to find any witches for two consecutive days, Calvin furiously declared that he would find the person behind this meddling and duel him openly to reclaim his honor.
In truth, the Border Holy See also had a great deal of resentment toward Ansu.
First, he had stolen prey the Holy See had its eyes on. Second, he had undermined the Holy See's authority. The people were all worshipping some Dark Night Hero now, so who would still pay taxes to the Holy See?
Calvin's priest father had also secretly issued orders to find the troublemaker and dispose of him.
When they encountered each other, the blood moon hung crimson overhead, and bleak clouds spread across the lead-gray sky.
Ansu was driving his carriage when he spotted the Holy See's Holy Knight from afar. He immediately removed the title of The Newborn, equipped the newly acquired Gradual Eastern Dawn instead, and told Enya to hide first.
That way, Scouting Magic would not reveal his identity.
Calvin sat atop his beloved horse, narrowed eyes fixed on the suspicious carriage ahead.
At this hour, why would there be a carriage on this barren plain?
And he could smell blood coming from within.
Years of instinct told Calvin that this was the person he had been looking for.
At last, he had found him!
The culprit who had humiliated him for the past three days!
When enemies met, their eyes reddened with hatred.
Though he knew his opponent was extraordinarily powerful, how could the hotheaded Calvin care?
Besides, even if he could not defeat him, he only needed to stall for a moment.
Once the other saints arrived, they could deal with him together.
Tonight, he would wash away his humiliation, prove himself with honor, and show every person who looked down on him!
This would be a sacred contest of honor.
Fair and square.
"My name is Calvin Pearson. State your name."
He dismounted, raised his staff, and called out to the person on the carriage opposite him.
After a long while.
A reply came from the other side. "Just call me Brother Xian Zong."
"I challenge you to a duel—a duel of honor!"
Calvin declared righteously as the cold wind blew against his cloak, making it rustle.
What kind of idiot was this?
Ansu still had monsters to farm.
You farm your monsters, and I'll farm mine. We mind our own business.
Besides, Ansu understood how laughable this so-called duel of honor was.
Calvin definitely had not come alone.
If Ansu let him stall long enough for the Holy Knights traveling with him to arrive, it would turn into an honorable group beating.
Dealing with Calvin would be easy. The troublesome part was the group of Holy Knights.
"Do you need me to deal with him?" Enya whispered by Ansu's ear.
Even if Enya acted, she could only force a mutual defeat.
And if Enya acted, Ansu's identity could easily be exposed.
If an entire team of Holy Knights vanished out of thin air, the Border Holy See would be enraged and would certainly conduct a full investigation.
The headquarters might even send Inquisitors of Heresy.
Inquisitors of Heresy were all at least fourth-tier and specialized in handling the Holy See's dirty work.
By then, things would truly blow up.
Regular players would choose to swiftly kill Calvin and erase the evidence—for example, sacrifice him and frame the Esoteric Cultists, then slip away before the saints arrived.
There was still some risk of exposure, and tonight's gains would be ruined.
That was what normal people did. There was no profit in it, but the risk was low.
But Ansu was a Heretical Player.
Heretical Players had heretical solutions.
He had a contingency plan for this sudden situation.
"No. I'll handle it myself," Ansu replied. He had already thought of a solution.
It was also a good chance to test this fellow with his system, to see whether it worked and what needed adjusting.
He happened to be short on experimental material. He had to test it in real combat sooner or later.
An experimental lab rat—this was probably the contribution of Calvin, an NPC without any traits.
Conveniently, Calvin's mana capacity was close to his own.
"I accept your duel."
Ansu climbed down from the carriage and walked a few steps forward. Blood-red moonlight fell across his face.
"As you said, this will be a battle of honor."
When Calvin saw Brother Xian Zong's face clearly, he instantly felt that the man was unfathomably terrifying, surely a hidden master concealing his true abilities.
The face of a top student carried an inherently unfathomable pressure. He looked ordinary enough, yet his brows constantly radiated a steady, composed aura.
And he was young—far younger than expected.
But that did not make Calvin lower his guard.
Calvin observed his opponent's movements and gripped the amulet around his neck. It was an intermediate amulet his father had given him—capable of resisting two enemy attacks.
It could even block curses.
What magic would Xian Zong use?
A highly destructive fireball?
Or Holy Light element magic—perhaps Spear of Light?
Or from the Druid System?
Plant magic?
But regardless of which kind of magic system he used, Calvin was confident that he could handle it. As a near-Second-tier Sorcerer, he had prepared countermeasures for every possibility.
"God's—"
Xian Zong finally moved.
The bloodlike moonlight covered Xian Zong's body, lending him an unexpected trace of sacred splendor.
He stood straight upon the plain, chanting with solemn majesty. Wind and clouds suddenly churned between heaven and earth, waves rolled across the wilderness, and it felt as though some great divinity was about to descend upon this world.
"Gift."
Gift of the Gods—Calvin had never heard of such magic.
Judging from the name, was it Holy Light element magic?
Was it Blessing Magic?
Good. What a duel filled with honor!
Calvin's blood instantly began to boil.
A correction to some earlier data: Rainy had forgotten to change it.
The mana cost of All Things Grow has been changed to 2. The earlier chapters have already been revised, so I'm letting everyone know here.
There will be another chapter later.
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