Ed handed the staff to Xilǐ'er and gave him his final words of advice:
"Use this to make anyone who does not believe."
"After you finish this task, report to Duma's subordinates and serve as the vanguard officer of the Soul Returner Legion. You will be in charge of the war against the Tree Worship Church together with Duma and Duolin."
"Yes, sir."
Xilǐ'er lowered his head. At this moment, his understanding of the Second Holy See's vigorous development was not yet complete; his main impression was still based on the time he left last time.
Although the events in Klaf City clearly showed that the Second Holy See was no longer what it used to be, he still asked the question:
Is the Second Holy See going to war with the Theocracy?
Upon hearing Xilǐ'er's question, Ed gave a disdainful smile:
Total War? Theocracy doesn't even deserve it.
"I have returned to the High Tier; the farce of the Stained Ones should end soon."
"I understand."
Ed nodded and added:
"Once the problem of the Tree Worship Church is resolved, a large number of children will be rescued. At that time, you and [ A Huan ] will be in charge of training Gungnir."
"We'll discuss the transfer later if there's a war."
"As for the Eternal Domain... the Second Holy See will not break ties with them in the short term."
Are there any other questions?
Ed's command was simple and clear, and the objective was very precise. It was exactly the type of command that Xilǐ'er, who was in a state of unease, most wanted to hear.
He gripped the wooden cane tightly in his hand and answered in a serious and formal tone:
"No problem."
"Let's go then."
Ed patted him on the shoulder, watching the knight mount his horse and disappear into the depths of the Rotting Corpse Dark Lake.
The Second Holy See, Valhalla.
Ed, whose life form had changed, soon opened his eyes again, this time in his study.
Looking at the familiar furnishings, he recalled that he hadn't returned here since he went to Klaf City to hunt Adelaide.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but in reality it was only four days.
Before she could even express her feelings, Seraphina seemed to sense his presence and pushed open the study door with a single palm strike, holding a dragon-scale notebook in her hand, filled with notes on key points.
She slammed the study door shut behind her, looking quite determined that she wouldn't leave until she learned the material, which amazed Ed.
The dragon girl seemed unusually eager to learn today, but thinking about it, it makes sense. If Ed were a local, he would definitely come to listen if he heard that someone could teach the method of printing money from the void.
Thus, the long-awaited "Professor Ed's Economics Mini-Lesson" was staged again, and the castle was instantly filled with an academic atmosphere.
As for the matter of collecting interest and deposits, Teacher Da Ai once again cleverly fobbed it off with royal jelly and some clever tricks from another world.
While Ed and Seraphina were discussing how many times the cryptocurrency could be over-issued, another group of people from Valhalla were gathering in a nearby open space.
Gray stood on the top deck of the Antasia, looking down at the hundreds of players who had gathered at his call, giving them his final words of advice before their adventure.
The group of players should have originally numbered over a thousand, but due to the impact of the Klaf City finale quest, only a few hundred players are now interested in it.
But Gray wasn't disappointed, or rather, he never really wasn't disappointed.
Faced with hundreds of thousands of Blood Corpse, there seems to be little difference between a few hundred and a few thousand people.
Anyway, they were just going over there to check things out, Gray comforted himself with that thought; a vanguard of several hundred people was already a considerable force.
Thinking this, he gave the players a friendly smile befitting a merchant:
"All Soul Returner are about to embark on an extremely perilous journey!"
"Waiting for you at the finish line is very likely an unknown vampire grand duke!"
Even so, do you still want to go and explore?
"Certainly!"
The roar of the crowd's agreement was deafening, startling Nora, who was standing behind Gray.
Aren't these Soul Returner to the Second Holy See a bit too insane?
Looking at the enthusiastic players, Gray also raised his arms:
"I have sensed your determination! Now I will reveal all known information about the Grand Duke's sealed land!"
"Our advance team has been deployed for some time now. Everyone can head directly to the Teleportation Tree closest to the target location. After completing the final leg of the journey, we can face the enemy head-on!"
The players' cheers once again resounded, but after the initial excitement subsided, some players noticed something amiss—
" Gray!"
One of the players in the crowd shouted:
Aren't you coming with us?
Gray glanced over and noticed a familiar-looking mechanical arm stuck in the man's shoulder.
Wow, you're a regular customer.
Considering the other party's past contributions to his business, Gray forced a smile.
But at this moment, Gray really wanted to ask this Soul Returner:
Am I going to die too?
That was a grand duke!
You resurrected guys, you're dead, so what? You just grow back from the tree and become heroes again.
But even an ordinary person like myself can die, though the difference is that he truly will die.
Seeing the longing in the eyes of the Soul Returner, Gray coughed lightly and said:
"I barely escaped from that hell, and my injuries haven't healed yet. The Antasia also needs further repairs..."
In short, after a series of excuses like "the knife isn't sharp enough, the horse is too thin, let's fight side by side again next time," Gray's speech smoothly came to an end, and he concluded:
"... This journey will be extremely dangerous, so I'm entrusting this mission to everyone!"
This time, a burst of harmless laughter rippled through the player group.
Everyone was already mentally prepared that Gray wouldn't go in person.
Like most quest NPCs in adventure games, if they could do this themselves, why would they outsource the task?
Moreover, asking an ordinary merchant NPC to fight the Grand Duke is indeed asking too much of a question.
As players sensed that some game information had finally been unlocked with Gray's speech, they all opened the map.
Sure enough, on the southeast side of the Wilderness of Chaos near the Graycast Corridor, a skull was flashing continuously.
That was their target location.
Near the skull, there's a point that indicates you can initiate a teleportation, but unfortunately, that point is always grayed out and unusable; I don't know what bug it's dealing with.
The group could only slide the map westward along the skull, and soon they saw a fully developed Teleportation Tree a few hundred miles away.
This anchor point is usable.
The players were overjoyed and headed to the nearest Teleportation Tree to begin their journey.
It's only a few hundred miles, isn't it?
Let your grandfather, the Soul Returner, show you what 365 Li Road) really means!