Chapter 325

Chapter 325: Chapter 322: "Welcome Back"...I’ve finally found you."

In the steamy barbecue restaurant, a figure suddenly burst in.

Su Ming’an lifted his head from the menu in front of him and saw Noel, playing the role of Leken, walk in from the entrance.

Noel wore the black uniform of a Soul Hunter and received a warm greeting from the receptionist as he walked in.

Behind him followed a troop of Soul Hunters, which indicated that Noel had been promoted.

"Didn’t expect this, seeing you enjoying yourself in an instance. Are you... eating barbecue here?" Noel sat down by the table, his nine Soul Hunters standing around it, looking as if they were there to start trouble.

Su Ming’an tossed him the menu: "Ordering?"

"Let me see..." Noel opened the menu: "Is the boss here? Here? That... everything on the menu, one of each."

The redhead female owner showed a passionate smile nearby, nodding continuously as if she had seen her own father.

"You have money?" Su Ming’an asked.

"I got promoted, reassigned to the Royal City Guard Team in the Northern District, the Royal City reimburses everything I eat." Noel pointed to the golden stars on his shoulder, "Apparently, the princess of the Royal City took a liking to me and specially transferred me to the guard team as the captain... But you, why are you eating barbecue alone in broad daylight? I remember you’re not the type who delights in instances..."

"I’m not alone," Su Ming’an said.

"Eh?" Noel made a puzzled noise, then suddenly saw a thoroughly upright young man coming over from one side.

Sherrod, who had taken off his Knight’s Armor, exuded a dignified aura of righteousness even without his sword. On seeing the large group of Soul Hunters gathered at the table, he paused mid-motion with his meat, then turned to look at Su Ming’an.

"This is Sherrod, born from the Knight of Light, an A-level Soul Hunter, my team member." Su Ming’an pointed at Noel, "Sherrod, this is Leken, Captain of the Royal City Guard Team."

Noel glanced at Sherrod and then understood.

He was sharp in judging people and could tell whether someone was a genuine knight or a disguised player. Seeing Su Ming’an and this NPC meeting up in a barbecue shop, it was mostly likely Su Ming’an was trying to increase his favorability.

He knew Su Ming’an never did anything unrelated to the progression of an instance.

"Hello." Noel extended his hand, only to see the other party grasp it and perform a hand-kissing gesture.

"Greetings to you, Captain of the Royal City Guard," Sherrod said softly.

"Haha..." Noel froze for a moment and quickly withdrew his hand, "Truly a knightly demeanor from the legends."

He rummaged through his bag and tossed a red weapon to Su Ming’an, "As previously agreed, here’s your weapon."

Su Ming’an caught it.

"I also have a patrol mission, so I won’t disturb you guys any longer. See you at the Maritime Banquet’s eve at the Central Soul Hunter Department," Noel finished speaking and then left the small shop with his silent team of Soul Hunters.

Su Ming’an looked at the weapon in his hand.

It was a blood-red longsword, slim-bladed and lightweight, overall emitting a fiery red glow as if it could breathe on its own. Searᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The attributes panel popped up in front of him.

[Amber (Red Level): The Fire of Civilization, leaps through the Long River.

Attack Power: 30~50

Durability: 30/30

Equipment Requirement: One-Handed Weapon, Strength Requirement 50 and above, holder of Spatial Skills.

Active Skills (Condensation): The player’s next attack will carry the "Spatial Fracture" effect, adding extra slashing damage to enemies in front and causing an enhanced "Destructive Degree" effect on objects in front. The strength of the effect is directly related to the player’s level of Spatial Skills. Cooldown time three minutes.

Spatial Damage Attribute: When attacking, attaches 50~200 points of Magic Series Spatial Damage, which cannot be evaded by physical defense effects and causes additional destruction effects.]

It was a Spatial Series Weapon.

Su Ming’an had seen on the World Forum before that the equipment dropped in instances generally had more popular requirements, whereas the equipment made by logistic players had much stricter requirements.

Just like it said here "Strength Requirement 50 and above" and the need for holders of spatial skills, Su Ming’an guessed that aside from himself, very few could use this weapon.

It seemed Noel truly understood his situation well.

He put away the long knife and saw that Sherrod in front of him had already flipped all the meat and even lined up the sides neatly in front of them both, maintaining a just-right distance, doing it even more attentively than the staff.

"This barbecue is quite good, Captain should try it." Sherrod gestured invitingly, apparently wanting Su Ming’an to go first.

Honestly, ever since the start of the World Game, Su Ming’an hadn’t really spent much time eating, as long as the stamina bar, a hidden value, allowed him to function, sleeping or drinking water was sufficient.

But now, Noel had come along, blatantly using the Royal City’s funds to order everything in this restaurant, even filling up the adjacent tables with dishes...

Under Sherrod’s expectant gaze, Su Ming’an took a bite of the barbecue.

Although the taste was just so, and even a bit spicy...

Su Ming’an was eating here while Sherrod diligently reported on the recent activities of Soul Hunt, regardless of whether he was listening or not.

In the reports, Sherrod also mentioned the Messenger Day, saying that if Su Ming’an was interested, they could go down to the Cloud City Church together.

"Let’s go together," Su Ming’an accepted the invitation.

From Sherrod’s introduction just now, he learned that the method of messaging was individual prayer.

The recipient would enter a room alone, pray devoutly, and wait for words to appear on the crystal ball in the room. If there were words, it meant the recipient’s relatives in Cloud City had left them a message. If not, it meant that this year his relatives had no words to say.

Many people hadn’t received a message for many years, and last year, only a few did.

If he truly was a descendant of Su Rin from sixty years ago and not Su Rin himself, then he should also receive a message.

He finally found a way to verify his identity.

While he was pondering this, there were several footsteps at the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, followed by a group of Soul Hunters walking in, as if they had come in a batch.

"Heard you were eating barbecue here." A voice came from the entrance.

Sure enough, when Su Ming’an looked up, he saw that it was Lv Shu and Lin Yin.

He was here eating barbecue, yet this group acted as if they’d heard something ridiculous and had to come see for themselves.

"Ordered so much?" Lin Yin stared at the tables nearly filled with dishes and was stunned.

Immediately, she called the owner over and had him serve one more of everything.

Su Ming’an watched her complete these actions.

"Never thought you’d be quite rich as a captain." Lin Yin sighed as she sat down: "I’ve been hungry for several instances now, to be honest, I still miss the taste of the barbecue restaurants in the city before..."

"It’s Noel’s money," Su Ming’an said.

"...Tsk, I see that’s how it is," Lin Yin remarked.

Su Ming’an stood up:

"Sherrod, let’s go."

He didn’t know why Lv Shu and Lin Yin had come over. If they were here for the barbecue, it was perfect for them to stay, preventing a crowd from gathering here, which could make others think Soul Hunt was here for a group fight.

"This is the registration card for the Maritime Banquet; I’ve exchanged one for you." Before he left, Lv Shu handed him a registration card.

...So that was what the two of them were here for.

He took the registration card, set a time to meet with Lv Shu before the Maritime Banquet, and then went with Sherrod towards the Cloud City Church in the Southern District.

Before heading to the barbecue restaurant, he had already exchanged the rewards from last night’s Flower Street mission at the Central Soul Hunter Department, obtaining over four hundred contribution points.

If he could complete tonight’s second cleaning task, he would be able to get his hands on that shotgun.

Earlier in the barbecue restaurant, Su Ming’an had already had a preliminary chat with Sherrod, brushing up his favorability to fifty.

The young knight seemed quite willing to trust others, simply mentioning his thoughts on Pulaya and Soul Hunt, and praising the Cloud Church a few times caused the other’s favorability to boost sharply.

Overall, the progress of his current tasks was very good, with no irretrievable mistakes occurring, which seemed a lot more mundane compared to the situations in the Sixth World.

After a long journey through water channels, he arrived at the Cloud Church in the Southern District.

In front of the church was a large square with a fountain, now crammed with local residents. The lined-up crowd stretched from the church’s main entrance to beyond the square, looking very impressive.

Sherrod directly led him to a high-domed building behind the church.

After communicating briefly with a priest at the door, Sherrod led him to a small door.

"This is the room used by church insiders and Soul Hunters for receiving messages," Sherrod whispered, "I have no relatives in Cloud City, Captain, please go in."

Su Ming’an nodded and pushed the door open.

It was a small room.

A wooden chair, a floating crystal ball—these were the only furnishings in the room, which had no windows.

The only light source was the dimly glowing crystal ball. He sat down in the wooden chair, and the door behind him slowly closed.

It was said that the Pope of the Cloud Church created these messenger crystal balls and injected them with the power of faith regularly, allowing messages from heaven to be delivered.

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand and, following the steps introduced by Sherrod earlier, placed his hand on the crystal ball and stated his name.

Blood-red script flashed above the crystal ball, and after he finished saying the words "Su Rin," the crystal ball began to glow.

It was as if the entire small room ignited instantly. He felt the temperature around him rising. Besides the glowing blood-red script, a faint red color also appeared in his vision.

He knew this was a prelude to "receiving a message."

He was about to receive a letter from Su Rin in Cloud City.

The light in front of him grew brighter and gradually swallowed his entire field of vision—

He closed his eyes. Once the blinding light faded, he opened them again.

He saw a crystal ball emblazoned with text of unclear meanings.

Su Ming’an moved closer, using the photograph function to fully record this text.

Although he had heard that the residents usually received messages in the local readable script,

for some reason, what he received was a lengthy string of special text, resembling Sanskrit. He wondered if there would be any clues in the future that would allow him to understand this type of text.

He observed for a moment longer to confirm there were no further changes to the crystal ball, then turned to leave.

"Click."

He heard a soft noise.

The sound seemed to come from a corner of the small room. When he looked over, a secret door was slowly opening.

An old man wearing a crown, with white hair and a kindly expression, emerged. The man wore plain cloth robes, which looked somewhat discordant with the exquisite crown on his head.

Upon seeing this old man, the word "Pope" jumped into Su Ming’an’s mind.

Pulaya’s Pope Firya, rumored to have been born with the ability to communicate with the deities of Cloud City, wielded the power of faith.

In faith-laden Pulaya, the Pope’s status was equal to that of the royal family. Even the princess due to inherit the throne had to interact with him on equal terms.

His every action influenced the parishioners of Pulaya, possessing the sole ability to communicate with Cloud City.

The moment this Pope stepped out of the secret door and locked eyes with Su Ming’an,

the Pope removed the dazzling crown from his head and gently knelt down.

"Welcome back," the Pope said softly, "Lord Su Rin."

Su Ming’an didn’t know how to respond.

He had suspected that Su Rin was no ordinary being, but he hadn’t anticipated it would be to this extent.

The Soul Clan’s Archilev transformed by him, Pulaya’s airships built by him, and now...even the Pope was kneeling before him?

Having seen the text on the stone tablet earlier, he thought he was just a descendant of Su Rin. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have received the message.

But now it seemed... it appeared that Su Rin from sixty years ago was still himself.

"Did you find a way to reinforce the barrier in the Yate Empire?" the Pope asked.

"...Not yet," Su Ming’an responded.

Although he knew Su Rin probably had, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen to return.

But he didn’t have that memory and didn’t know what this so-called method was.

"I see," the Pope stood up, "that complicates things..."

Su Ming’an watched the other’s movements, saw his hand lay onto the crystal ball, and watched as he slowly closed his eyes.

The crystal ball began to glow again.

Su Ming’an felt the temperature in the room rising again. It seemed the Pope was communicating with the deity of Pulaya.

He stood in place waiting, when suddenly he heard a system voice:

He suddenly realized something.

The appearance of this message could only mean...

He immediately activated Spatial Displacement.

Accompanied by a harsh crackling sound, his figure shifted slightly, but then solidly remained in place.

Su Ming’an swung his sword at the Pope in front of him.

In that moment, he saw the Pope open his eyes.

The original sea-blue color had disappeared.

Now facing him were eyes similar to his own, dark golden color, like a god watching over the mortals below.