Book 6: Chapter 49: Dream

“Have we met before?” Black looked at Qin Lun with some doubt. He also belonged to the Chaos Alliance, and was even a member of the alliance’s main team, “Chaos.”

Black was a key candidate for training in the “Chaos” novice team. With his strength, he had already reached the Second Order two Quest Worlds ago, but he had been postponing his Class Change task.

The “Chaos” team ranked first in City Points in Devil’s Horn. They had known early on that the three Apostle Cities would inevitably hold a Metropolis Domination War because of Atlantis. For the team’s benefit, Black had to delay his own advancement.

However, this method, which was like cheating, also made Black pay a considerable price. That was why Shattered Starry Sky prohibited him from killing indiscriminately in the early stages of the Domination War.

After the Metropolis Domination War ended, Black still had a task given by the “Chaos” team: to recruit and absorb Lone Apostles among the Novice Apostles. Novice Apostles who could survive the Metropolis Domination War had top-tier strength and wisdom. Unlike High-Rank Apostles, they didn’t have stable team relationships, making them candidates any team would want to recruit.

“Heh, we were in the same Domination War area, and I saw your skills in secret.” Qin Lun gave a faint smile. Although he and the Assassin were opponents during the Domination War, now that the battle was over, there was nothing to hide.

“You were in that area too?” Black pondered for a moment, then took out something like a glow stick from his chest. He scanned it over the “badge” mark in front of Qin Lun, looked down, and immediately showed a trace of surprise on his face. “You’re using our ‘Chaos’ team’s internal card?”

“You’re from Chaos?” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed, and he said with a smile, “I’m a Lone Apostle. The Invitation Letter was acquired through purchase, borrowing the name of ‘Chaos.’ What is that thing in your hand…”

“Oh, this? It records the surviving Apostles from the Apostle Cities and teams, to facilitate the distribution of Atlantis after the war. Every overseer Apostle in each Domination War area had one. It was a temporary item issued by Shattered Starry Sky.” Black said lightly, “I was also one of the overseers selected by Shattered Starry Sky. If I died during the Domination War, this thing would belong to the victor.”

“Overseer? So you can see my information through this?” Qin Lun’s pupils contracted, and his expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

“Heh, don’t worry. This thing can’t display Apostle numbers or identity details. It can only check the affiliated city and team by scanning your mark.” A strange light flashed in Black’s eyes, and his hoarse voice carried a hint of anticipation as he asked, “Since you don’t have a team yet, are you interested in joining our Chaos?”

“Joining Chaos…” Qin Lun opened his mouth, frowned, and fell silent, not immediately rejecting Black.

Originally, he thought his strength was quite high, but this Domination War opened his eyes wide, clearly showing him the gap between himself and those top-tier Novice Apostles. Among the more than two hundred Apostles from Devil’s Horn who entered the Domination War area, he was only at an average level.

Devil’s Horn had several thousand Novice Apostles in total. Being at a medium level among over two hundred outstanding ones was already considered exceptional.

Take Black as an example. Although this Assassin was at the peak of the Novice level and could step into the Second Order at any time, the number of Quest Worlds he had experienced was several times that of Qin Lun. He was only a Silver Apostle, and his development potential was actually not as good as Qin Lun’s.

Qin Lun also understood this logic, but his current thinking had changed a lot compared to before the Domination War. The timing for forming a Murderer Team wasn’t ripe yet; he first needed to find a team to join.

Previously, he worried that large teams had complicated relationships, making them easy to join but hard to leave. However, after coming into contact with novice Apostles trained by several large teams, his thinking had changed. Novices in large teams had innate advantages, accumulating far more than Lone Apostles, and the risks in Quest Worlds were much smaller.

Compared to the troubles he might encounter later, the benefits seemed to outweigh the disadvantages. It wasn’t impossible to join a large team first to see. Currently, the large teams that had invited him included Kelly’s “Lost,” Odo’s “Sky Float,” and Black’s “Chaos.”

He could choose one of them, or he could find another large team on his own. He needed to weigh his options carefully.

Thinking of this, Qin Lun looked up and said with a smile, “Let me think about it.”

“Of course, I’ll leave my contact number with you. If you make up your mind, just contact me directly.” Black’s eyes flashed, and he said amiably, “By the way, since you were also in the same Domination War area, do you have any Treasure Map Fragments? You Lone Apostles probably find it very hard to complete this Treasure Map. If you don’t mind, I’ll buy them from you at a reasonable price.”

“Treasure Map Fragments?” Qin Lun’s heart stirred, but his expression suddenly turned extremely unpleasant. He realized he had overlooked something.

If he had known there would be time for trading after the Domination War ended, he should have kept a few Treasure Map Fragments for himself. However, Qin Lun then thought that such behavior would likely cause endless trouble. “Creating” a Treasure Map during the Domination War could still be called strategy. But if he took it out to sell now, and it was exposed later, he would probably become a public enemy.

With this thought, Qin Lun’s expression improved a bit. He turned to look around, then leaned closer to Black and whispered a few words.

“What? Fake…” Black’s face instantly darkened.

After defeating the bald MT, he had over a dozen Treasure Map Fragments in hand. And because of these Treasure Map Fragments, he had been punished by Shattered Starry Sky and fined over a million Shattered Crystals.

“Heh, you can take this chance to sell off the Treasure Map Fragments you have!” Qin Lun rubbed his nose.

“Thanks, I won’t tell anyone else!” Black sighed, turned, and hurried away. He had too many Treasure Map Fragments on hand; 30 minutes might not be enough to sell all of them.

Watching Black’s retreating figure, Qin Lun showed a faint smile. The Assassin was very strong and was a key training target of the “Chaos” team. Giving him a favor was better than making him resentful.

Moreover, Qin Lun only said they were fake; he didn’t say he was the one who forged them. Even if Black could guess the truth, he didn’t know the young man’s Apostle number. If the news spread, it would only make those who bought the fragments resent Black, while Qin Lun remained unharmed.

However, Qin Lun didn’t know that after Black turned away, he immediately showed a serious expression and took out a communicator from his chest. There was one thing he hadn’t told Qin Lun: although the overseer’s recorder didn’t display Apostle numbers or identity details, it could show the Invitation Letter earnings of an Apostle during the Domination War.

As one of the top teams in Devil’s Horn, Chaos was very strict about recruiting novices. If Black hadn’t discovered that Qin Lun obtained ten Invitation Letters, he wouldn’t have issued an invitation without even asking about the other’s background.

“Leader, I’ve got something here… He holds our internal card… Hmm, it was probably given to him by a Demon Clan elder. If we investigate carefully, we should be able to find this person…”

Half an hour later, Qin Lun and Little Mute reappeared inside the stepped hall of the Chaos Alliance. The young man didn’t leave the Chaos Alliance headquarters immediately; instead, he first went to the Demiplane trading square.

After the Domination War, he had no relation with the Chaos Alliance. Now that he had a massive amount of Shattered Crystals on him, of course he wanted to make large purchases in the Demiplane square. Even if he couldn’t find items suitable for himself, he could buy some MT equipment for Frank.

…

“Master (Young Master), you’re back!” Didi and Frank were overjoyed to see Qin Lun return.

“Master, who is she?” Didi asked, looking at the timid Little Mute hiding behind Qin Lun.

“She is…” Qin Lun raised an eyebrow. He suddenly realized he didn’t know Little Mute’s name. “Let’s go inside first.”

“Sif Alexandra! Is this your name?” After entering the villa, Qin Lun had Little Mute write down her name. “Frank, take Sif to the City Management Office and get her an Identity Plate as a Servant Apostle.”

“Master, I’ll take Sif. No need to trouble Master Frank.” Didi’s eyes shifted, and he volunteered.

After seeing Little Mute, the little guy felt a strong sense of crisis. Frank was one thing, but Little Mute was about the same age as him. Didi began to worry about his position in Qin Lun’s heart.

“No, you stay. I have something to tell you.” Qin Lun winked at Frank, signaling him to take Little Mute out.

“Master, don’t you need me anymore?” Watching Frank and the other leave, Didi’s ears drooped, and he looked utterly dejected.

“Heh, worried?” Qin Lun couldn’t help but laugh. “Nothing like that. You’re my first Servant Apostle, and you’ve been taking care of my daily life for the past few months. How could I not want you?”

Qin Lun pondered for a moment, then took out three pieces of ancient-looking parchment from his chest and placed them on the coffee table. “These are a few Alchemy Recipes for crafting Apostle items. One is for a Stamina Potion, one for Swamp Poison Mist, and another is for the Orc’s Bloodlust Frenzy.”

“Master, these things are so expensive. Are they for me?” Didi’s ears perked up, and his eyes gleamed as he looked at the three recipes on the table.

“Mm, I gained a lot from this Metropolis Domination War. Unfortunately, such Alchemy Recipes are very rare. I only found these three in the Demiplane trading market.” Qin Lun gave a faint smile. These three Alchemy Recipes cost him a total of one hundred seventy thousand Shattered Crystals. Each recipe was equivalent to a piece of Dark Gold Equipment; it was a heavy investment.

“Master, I can’t understand the writing on these recipes.” Didi looked at them for a long time, then finally put them down with a bitter smile.

“Alchemy Recipes that Apostles can use—ordinary people really can’t understand them. These are magic runes. Only Apostles with alchemy knowledge can integrate them into their Apostle Soul Mark.” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed, and he slowly took out a small bottle from his chest.

“This is the Void Beast Serum. After using it, you will temporarily become a Void Constitution and get one chance for Law Body transformation… However, if your soul doesn’t possess the special quality to traverse space-time, you will die. The success rate is less than one percent…”

Hearing this, Didi stared blankly at the Void Beast Serum, his body seeming to turn to stone.

“You’ve taken care of me for months. I must give you this choice. However, I hope you won’t use this serum. Dreams aren’t worth exchanging for your life!” Qin Lun patted Didi’s head, stood up, and went back to his room, leaving the Void Beast Serum and the Alchemy Recipes on the coffee table.

“Dream… less than one percent!” Didi sat rigidly on the sofa for a long time, then finally reached out and grabbed the Void Beast Serum and the three Alchemy Recipes.