Things turned out just as Tang Yi had said. The Goddess Team led by I Am an Angel ultimately returned by blowing themselves up with C4.
If they had been Soul Masters with three rings or more, they could have made the slum dwellers wary, but they only had one ring now and could hardly intimidate anyone.
On top of that, they were carrying a batch of grain, which naturally drew a mob attack.
Still, they had more or less delivered the grain to the designated location and completed the mission.
With this lesson, they should understand that missions were never simple. Charging in mindlessly would not work; they needed to use their brains.
Before long, the Assault Team led by Ten-Year Veteran also returned by blowing themselves up.
The level gap between them and the target evil Soul Master was too great. They could only rely on a devastating weapon like C4 for a chance at mutual destruction.
His luck was good. He seized the opportunity and successfully blew that evil Soul Master to death. Their group had completed its mission too, with a decent haul.
"Good thing I included a fallback like C4, or these players would get stuck. System, when can we summon the second batch of players?"
[Players must advance the story to the first Continental Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament.]
"That should be soon, then. But are the players eligible to compete?"
[The system has automatically generated their eligibility. Players may register once their bonus level reaches 30 or above.]
"Level 30. Can we add an item to the game shop that lets them level up quickly?"
[Generating. Experience boost potion: grants a 1.5× experience gain bonus after use.]
"Hmm. System, release this information to every player as a game announcement."
[Executing... execution complete.]
Every player heard the game announcement at that moment.
[The Continental Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament will begin soon. Players whose soul power level has reached 30 or above may register with a sect elder. Earn a placing in the Continental Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament to receive generous rewards.] [To encourage players to level up quickly, experience boost potions are now available in the game shop. Those who need them may purchase them.]
Wang Zhongwang: "The Continental Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament. This should be the first Soul Master tournament in the story, right?"
Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior: "I remember Shrek Academy's main team members having it really rough."
Wang Zhongwang: "Can't be helped. They had to make way for the protagonist, so those main team members could only end up dead or injured."
Primordial One: "Then can we change the story?"
I Am an Angel: "Surely we can? Haven't we already changed it? Where were people like us in the story?"
Ten-Year Veteran: "If we want to change the story, we'll need the strength for it. Let's do more missions and grind our levels up first."
Qian Xixi: "This is so infuriating. We were awakening children's martial souls for free, and the city guards actually came to chase us away."
Agile Dog in the Mountains: "Exactly! We were clearly doing a good deed, but those guards wouldn't listen to reason at all. We only finished the mission by sneaking around and avoiding them."
Wang Zhongwang: "That's normal. This is the Douluo II era. Martial soul awakenings cost money. By helping people awaken their martial souls for free, you were snatching the rice bowls out of someone else's hands. Naturally, someone would cause trouble."
Spirit Hall Eternal: "That's why Spirit Hall was better after all. I'm going to rebuild Spirit Hall."
I Am an Angel: "Just saying it is enough. Do you really think you can rebuild Spirit Hall?"
Spirit Hall Eternal: "You don't even support Spirit Hall, you fake angel."
Ten-Year Veteran could not be bothered to join this increasingly absurd chat. Taking missions, doing missions, and grinding levels were what mattered.
Without a high enough level, they could not unlock more of the game's features at all.
And so, the Assault Team led by Ten-Year Veteran ground missions purely through self-destruct tactics. Combined with the shop's newly released experience boost potions, which were not expensive at ten fate coins a bottle, their levels rose quickly.
Seeing this, the Rich Team and the Goddess Team joined in too. The self-destruct playstyle did not require much skill at all.
Moreover, the first type of mission seemed to refresh endlessly, with every group receiving a different target.
Naturally, this was because there were far too many evil Soul Masters around Heaven Dou City.
Letting evil Soul Masters run rampant to this extent really was something else.
Every evil Soul Master the players killed changed the story ever so slightly, earning Tang Yi some fate points.
Even the tiniest mosquito had meat on it. When the time came, Tang Yi would activate the next story mission.
Once the players threw the story into complete disarray, Tang Yi would certainly receive a huge wave of fate points.
By grinding monsters and doing missions through self-destruction, all the players raised their soul power levels above 25.
Ten-Year Veteran was the first to reach level 30, earning a martial soul upgrade card that could raise a martial soul's quality by one grade.
Ten-Year Veteran used it immediately without hesitation. His martial soul's quality rose from black grade to red grade, and even its name changed completely, becoming the Formation-Breaking Overlord Spear.
[Formation-Breaking Overlord Spear: red-grade quality, innate 50% armor penetration attribute.]
Many people coveted Ten-Year Veteran's martial soul attributes after its evolution.
Wang Zhongwang: "Badass. This should be the first red-quality martial soul, right?"
Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior: "If a red-quality martial soul is already this heaven-defying, how powerful would a gold-quality one be?"
I Am an Angel: "A gold-quality martial soul should be one of those legendary divine martial souls, right? My Two-Winged Angel is black quality. Above that, a Four-Winged Angel would be red quality, and a Six-Winged Angel would be gold quality."
I Am an Angel: "Any rich players willing to sponsor me a little? I want to evolve my angel martial soul to gold quality. Maybe I can become the next Angel God."
Primordial One: "You're trying to catch a white wolf with empty hands. Isn't it just reaching level 100 and becoming a god? Once we get to the late game, everyone can reach level 100."
Spirit Hall Eternal: "Exactly. You're a fake angel who doesn't even support Spirit Hall. What gives you the right to become the Angel God?"
While they were bickering, Qian Xixi had already put his rich-player qualities to work, forcibly rerolling both his martial souls to red quality.
[Taotie Divine Bull: red-grade quality, possesses a degree of the devouring attribute.] [Black Tortoise Shield: red-grade quality, comes with a protective Black Tortoise phantom.]
Qian Xixi shared his rerolled martial souls, immediately drawing a chorus of exclamations.
Wang Zhongwang: "Rich guy, badass! Both your twin martial souls are red quality now. Your two soul rings-no, four soul rings-aren't all red too, are they?"
Qian Xixi: "Keep it low-key, keep it low-key. Anything money can solve isn't a problem."
If the game shop had sold items that directly raised soul power levels, Qian Xixi would have wanted to jump straight to level 100 and experience what it felt like to be a god on the Douluo Continent.
Qian Xixi's level was not low either. He was level 29 now. The others could not keep using experience boost potions all the time, but for Qian Xixi, the effect was practically permanent.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Shrek Supervisory Group was finally about to take action.
Before you continue