Kenchi controlled the Metal Lifeform as it took off and flew toward the distant Lier City.
Thus, Simon and the others began their first Fiend mission.
Their legend officially began to be written!
The Expert of the Law of Death, Elno
The Leopard-shaped Metal Lifeform provided by Kenchi flew at a decent speed. Although it still could not match Fanny's high-end one, it was far better than the one provided by Fiend Castle during their previous trip, capable of covering more than a million li a day.
The Metal Lifeform was quite lively at the moment.
Hamut was boasting to a group of people, while the others listened from the side and occasionally chimed in.
Even Simon did not immediately enter secluded training. Instead, he drank and chatted with Fanny and the others in the main hall, while also getting acquainted with the other Fiends. After all, they would be spending the next several years together.
"Let me tell you, the instant Blood Kill Bandit Group leader Cohen was killed by Lord Selens, I realized my chance had come. I instantly transformed into a bolt of lightning, rushed into the valley at lightning speed, grabbed a Thousand Illusion Fruit, then turned into lightning again and made my escape."
Hamut boasted to the other One-Star Fiends about how he had passed the assessment, while the merchant Kenchi listened with great interest nearby.
"Then why didn't you take a few more fruits? You could've sold them afterward," one onlooker asked.
"I wanted to, but guess what happened?"
"What?"
The onlooker eagerly played along.
"Although I reacted quickly, someone was actually faster than me. But I noticed that only two fruits had been taken from the tree. I'd thought about sweeping them all up too, but when I saw that someone stronger than me had such restraint, I immediately calmed down. I honestly took one fruit and ran. With my strength, I could only protect one fruit anyway."
"Then you've got pretty good restraint too. Not bad, Hamut."
Their employer, Kenchi, praised him at just the right moment.
"Hehe, thanks for the compliment. It later proved that I'd made the right choice. Just moments after I left, a huge number of Midgods who had come to their senses arrived. From where I was hiding in the distance, I saw with my own eyes those greedy people who took several fruits get focused down and killed instantly. It was a shame that several fruits still on the tree were caught in the crossfire and destroyed."
Even now, Hamut still shuddered when he recalled it. If he had greedily picked a few more fruits and wasted even a little time, he might have been the one to die on the spot.
"That was really dangerous. Good thing I directly spent money to buy the mission item for my Fiend assessment back then. Hehe."
Another Two-Star Fiend with grayish-white hair and an ordinary face spoke up.
"Big Brother Elno cultivates the Law of Death and is skilled at refining Soul Golden Beads. Of course you can do that. Unlike us, who have to risk our lives."
Hamut spoke.
The other Fiends looked at Elno with envy as well.
Soul Golden Beads were worth a hundred thousand Inkstones each on the market! He only needed to refine eight of them to purchase the mission item and pass the assessment. There was no need for him to risk his life at all.
Moreover, someone capable of refining such a treasure surely had extensive connections and could come into contact with many important figures.
"You people who cultivate the Law of Death make Inkstones so easily. With skills like yours, buying a house in a city and cultivating peacefully from then on shouldn't be difficult, right? Why follow poor people like us and risk your life on missions to earn Inkstones?"
Olga, the earlier onlooker, asked enviously.
"Ah, Olga, you don't understand. Although earning Inkstones is as easy as drinking water for me, I also want to walk my own path to becoming an expert."
"Whenever I think about staying in Timbu City forever, refining Soul Golden Beads for the rest of my life, and likely remaining a Midgod for my entire life, I feel unwilling to accept it. I want to come out and take a gamble. In Hell, only your own strength is truly reliable. No matter how many Inkstones you have, they're useless."
Elno, with his grayish-white hair and the dense aura of the Law of Death surrounding him, spoke with feeling.
"He really earns Inkstones so easily. I, Napote, raised chickens for tens of thousands of years just to barely scrape together ten thousand Inkstones, while he can earn enough in a single day..."
Napote, who had been listening to them boast nearby, could not help sighing.
"Haha, Napote, those are Hell Fire Phoenixes, not chickens from a Material Plane. Don't talk nonsense. You're making yourself sound like some professional chicken farmer."
Lona scolded him teasingly.
"To be fair, you really were unlucky. You raised them for tens of thousands of years and only managed to save ten thousand Inkstones. Even if the tribe was exploitative, they shouldn't have paid you so little, right?"
Simon could not suppress his curiosity any longer.
"Ah, just thinking about it makes my chest hurt. It was all because the tribe's steward was so black-hearted. The tribal leader had originally promised that if we did well, those of us who raised chickens full-time would receive five hundred Inkstones every thousand years. After all, I could raise more than ten thousand Hell Fire Phoenixes to maturity every thousand years, and the tribe could sell each one for three Inkstones. It was only right for them to give us such a small amount for our labor."
"But that damned steward was always finding fault. One moment, he'd say the Hell Fire Phoenixes I raised were too small and no one wanted them. The next, he'd say I was slacking off and too many Hell Fire Phoenixes had escaped. He always found excuses to deduct my Inkstones. Sometimes, I even had to pay him Inkstones out of my own pocket. Can you believe that?"
"Hahaha, Napote, that's way too miserable. Isn't that the legendary paid forced labor?"
Fanny laughed heartily.
"Who are you telling? Later, I got smarter. Every time the tribal leader distributed Inkstones, I gave half of mine to that steward. It was humiliating, but at least it kept him from constantly causing trouble for me."
"I didn't expect you to be such a clever kid."
Lona said as she patted Napote on the head.
"What else could I do? I saw that when other people did it, he stopped picking on them, so I followed suit. Sure enough, once he got the Inkstones, he went to trouble those who didn't pay him tribute. Anyway, there were always newcomers joining the tribe every year. As long as I paid him protection money on time, he left me alone. That was how I finally saved enough Inkstones over all those long years, while still having a little left over."
"It wasn't easy. It's all in the past now. No one will dare extort you again, Napote. I, Simon, said so! Come on, cheers."
Simon was indignant to hear that his friend had been bullied, but he had no idea where he had been at the time. All he could do was promise that Napote would not be bullied again in the future.
"Thank you, Simon. Cheers."
Napote was merely a bit unlucky and somewhat soft-tempered, but he was not foolish. He could tell who treated him well and who had ulterior motives. He could feel Simon's goodwill, so he thanked him sincerely.
"We're good brothers. Why are you thanking me?"
Simon waved his hand and continued chatting and drinking with Napote, while also listening to Hamut and the others brag nearby.
At this moment, Elno could not refuse everyone's enthusiasm and was forced to demonstrate how he refined Soul Golden Beads.
He took out a Crystal Ball filled with Saint Realm souls of various shapes. Using some special technique, he extracted one of those souls, refined it into a wisp of soul essence with the Law of Death, then placed that wisp into another Crystal Ball.
This Crystal Ball was already full of soul essence.
Elno curled his right hand, and the soul essence filling the Crystal Ball slowly began to rotate in a strange manner. With every rotation, a large amount of insufficiently pure soul essence was diluted away.
At the same time, the remaining soul essence continued to spin.
Elno repeated the process again and again until only incomparably pure soul essence remained, condensing into a golden bead two or three centimeters in diameter.
Thus, a Hell-compatible Soul Golden Bead was refined.
Many people aboard the Metal Lifeform were seeing how Soul Golden Beads were refined for the first time, and they all watched intently. Simon was no exception.
"Impressive methods, Big Brother Elno."
Hamut was the first to applaud.
The remaining Fiends also clapped and praised him.
Making Connections
"Indeed. With a skill like this, you can live well in Hell."
The merchant Kenchi was also very interested in this method. He continued, "Would Master Elno be interested in cooperating with me? I'll provide sufficient Saint Realm souls, and you only need to refine them. Once the Inkstones are earned from selling them, I'll take thirty percent and you'll take seventy. How about it?"
"If this had been ten thousand years ago, I definitely would have been interested. But now, I'm not very interested. I've decided that improving my strength through tempering will be my priority from now on. Sorry."
Elno politely declined.
"Is that so? What a pity. If Master Elno becomes interested in the future, I, Kenchi, will welcome you anytime. The terms will remain the same."
"Sure, sure."
Elno merely responded perfunctorily.
At this point, Hamut also asked Elno.
"Big Brother, do you still have any extra Soul Golden Beads on you? Hehe, I'm thinking of buying some."
"Oh? How many do you want?"
"Ahem, Big Brother, look how well we get along. Um... could you sell them to your little brother here at a discount?"
"Haha, Hamut, so that's what you were after. A discount isn't impossible, seeing as we get along so well. And your strength isn't bad either. How about I sell them to you at a thirty percent discount?"
Hamut was instantly overjoyed when he heard that. Sure enough, deliberately befriending Elno over the past few days had been the right decision. He would save nearly half his money in one stroke.
"Sure, sure. Thanks for looking after me, Big Brother. Here are seven hundred thousand Inkstones. I'll take ten first!"
As he spoke, Hamut eagerly took out seven hundred thousand Inkstones and bought ten Soul Golden Beads from Elno on the spot.
Those seven hundred thousand Inkstones were all of Hamut's current savings. But for the sake of improving his soul strength and preparing for emergencies, he went all out.
As for Elno, he was no fool. Of course he understood Hamut's intentions, but he did not mind.
Based on his observations, Hamut was a little goofy and rather calculating, but his strength was decent and his character was not bad. He was someone worth befriending, and Elno was happy to make a small investment.
In any case, he had plenty of Soul Golden Beads on him. It was good for them to serve some other purpose.
Seeing such a good opportunity, the other Fiends all shouted that they wanted to buy some too. However, Elno said,
"If you want to buy them, that's fine. I have as many as you need, but seventy thousand Inkstones per bead is the friends-and-family price. If you want to buy them, you'll have to pay the original price."
What a joke. Refining Soul Golden Beads was hard work for Elno too. How could he let others take advantage of him so easily?
Everyone immediately lost their enthusiasm. If they were paying the original price, they could have bought them in the city long ago. Why wait until now? They were not wealthy either. Inkstones were already difficult to earn in Hell, and the Inkstones they had painstakingly saved were not even enough for maintaining their divine artifacts and purchasing other life-saving items. How could they spare any extra Inkstones?
At that moment, they could not help envying Hamut. Being good at socializing was indeed a talent.
Napote and Lona, however, had no intention of buying discounted Soul Golden Beads from Elno. Fanny had already given each of them several dozen earlier, enough to last them for quite some time.
She had even generously said that she still had plenty, and that they could simply ask her for more if they ran out.
Generally, a Midgod only needed to use several hundred Soul Golden Beads to raise their soul strength to its limit. By then, their soul could become roughly two or three times stronger.
A Highgod would need ten times that amount.
Thus, even experts greatly desired Inkstones, because improving one's strength during the early stages still relied heavily on such external resources.
Napote now felt that his bad luck had finally left him. Luxurious treasures that he had never even dared dream of in the past could now be eaten like beans.
At this moment, he greatly envied Simon. It was one thing for the man to be handsome and refined, but his cultivation talent was also so good, and he had even found himself a beautiful, adorable little rich girl. He was simply a winner in life.
However, Simon was very loyal. He had originally planned to give the Soul Golden Beads to them himself, but Fanny said she had many more, so she gave them on Simon's behalf.
As Simon put it,
"If we can use external resources to improve our strength sooner, then we should do it as soon as possible. The path of Fiend trials isn't easy. It's best if everyone becomes stronger. Then, if we encounter danger, we can look out for one another."
Before you continue