“Apostle 70053, you have interrupted the ongoing Epic Quest and returned to the Boundary Dimension at the fourth mission node. Settling the Toril World mission rewards and assigning mission evaluation…”
“Notification: Apostle 70053, you have touched and initiated the team-guided mission ‘Magic Cup Court (Corporal-Rank)’, the branch plot ‘Qundar Moon Elf Migration (Major-Rank)’, the main plotline ‘Magic Cup Crisis (Lieutenant Colonel-Rank)’, the Elven Race Epic Plot ‘Ancient Path (True & False Dual Tracks)’, and the Dwarven Race Epic ‘Mithril Hall’ prequel plot ‘Exploring Mithril Hall’.”
“Notification: Apostle 70053, out of five missions you accepted, you completed three. The main plotline counts as a team-assist contribution. The ‘Ancient Path’ Epic Plot only reached the fourth node, preventing a higher evaluation under the dual-track criteria.”
“Notification: ‘Magic Cup Court’ mission base rewards: 12,000 Shattered Crystals, 600 Exchange Vouchers, 4 Contribution Points, Soul Life Limit +5. ‘Moon Elf Migration’ mission base rewards: 50,000 Shattered Crystals, 1,000 Exchange Vouchers, 12 Contribution Points, two Shattered Law Crystals.”
“Notification: The Elven Race Epic Quest reward is merged into the World Exploration Degree and World Essence Plunder awards since it only reached the fourth node.”
“Mission Evaluation Notification: Apostle 70053, you earned 0.201% World Exploration Degree for the world map. Shared 0.201% World Exploration Degree with Apostle Longer for discovering ‘Magic Cup Court’. Shared 0.202% World Exploration Degree for discovering ‘Ironstar Fortress’ with a mixed team, with an additional 0.201% from later exploration. Shared 0.205% World Exploration Degree with Apostle Lace for discovering ‘Tower of Durlag’ and ‘Uvellen Obelisk’.
Apostle 70053’s Plot Identity significantly impacted the ‘Ancient Path’ and ‘Mithril Hall’ through personal effort and independently triggered the ‘Ancient Path (False)’ and ‘Exploring Mithril Hall’ plots. Shattered Starry Sky rewards a bonus 0.236% World Exploration Degree based on this!”
“Comprehensive calculation: Apostle 70053 gained a total of 0.246% World Exploration Degree in this world, plundering 103 points of World Origin. Final mission evaluation: Mid-Magic World Gold Rank!”
“Notification: Apostle 70053 world mission settlement complete. Added World Exploration Degree and World Essence Plunder awards (includes Ancient Path dual-track rewards). Summary as follows. Select seven of nine options within five minutes, or receive randomly.”
Ⅰ. 250,000 Shattered Crystals;
Ⅱ. 55 Contribution Points;
Ⅲ. Master-level Technique Advancement Crystal;
Ⅳ. +22 to Soul Life Limit;
Ⅴ. Faerûn Dark Gold Equipment Box;
Ⅵ. 38 points Enhancement Energy (Professional Apostle exclusive);
Ⅶ. Advancement Profession Credential (opens the Advancement Path);
Ⅷ. One Mid-Magic World Gold Evaluation Card (Gold Evaluation exclusive);
Ⅸ. This world’s Special Treasure (determined by this world’s mission experience, Silver Rank or above exclusive);
Qin Lun’s tiny light-figure within the Boundary Dimension smiled slightly at the notifications in the Death Notice. An Apostle’s journey between worlds truly held great opportunities alongside risks. While the rewards didn’t match the Metropolis Domination War in currency, certain special prizes were unmatched.
Perhaps because it included rewards from a large Epic Quest, he could choose seven out of the nine options.
Qin Lun focused his mind on the newly seen rewards. Regarding the Faerûn Dark Gold Equipment Box, Shattered Starry Sky explained it contained equipment unique to the Faerûn continent, fused with Shattered Laws, allowing Apostles true ownership instead of transforming it into crafting materials.
The Dark Gold Equipment Box randomly granted two or three pieces of Dark Gold Equipment. Whether they were Bright Gold or Purple Gold quality, or their attribute types, relied entirely on the Apostle’s luck.
The Master-level Technique Advancement Crystal was a Law item that could dramatically improve combat skills. Qin Lun also learned about skill levels from its description.
Qin Lun possessed many combat skills, mainly Firearms, Dagger, Sword-class Weapons, and the spellcaster’s Magic Network Core. Among these, only Firearms reached the Master level. Dagger was Advanced Expertise, while Swordplay and Magic Network Core were only Intermediate Proficiency.
Though he held one Master technique, Qin Lun’s mastery of Firearms came from an Ancient Inheritance of the Elven Hunter, not through normal advancement.
The crystal’s description informed him that advancing beyond Advanced Expertise required such a crystal. Otherwise, only relentless training and battles over time could raise a technique to Master level.
Most Apostles undertook an Otherworld Mission every half or full month. Achieving breakthroughs solely through training or combat was wishful thinking. Thus, this Advancement Crystal was nearly the only path for rapid skill improvement.
Besides the Technique Crystal, the newly appearing Advancement profession Credential was a welcome surprise. When obtaining the Hunter’s Heart, Qin Lun had received a message hinting he touched the Second-Order Apostle promotion path.
Following Shattered Starry Sky’s pattern, advancing from a First-Rank to Second-Order Apostle should trigger an advancement mission, similar to becoming a Professional Apostle. Yet, no further prompts came during subsequent missions.
He’d thought the mission appeared only upon returning to Shattered Starry Sky. Now he realized the key Advancement Profession Credential had been missing.
After reading the introductions, Qin Lun contemplated the nine options, deciding which two to sacrifice.
Enhancement Energy, Master Technique Crystal, Soul Life Limit, the Gold Evaluation Card, and the Advancement Credential were essential. The remaining four were harder choices.
After deep thought, Qin Lun decided to drop the Shattered Crystals and the Faerûn Dark Gold Equipment Box. He chose the 55 Contribution Points and the Special Treasure. He felt Contribution Points would grow ever more crucial as his strength increased.
Contribution Points determined Star Void Titles. Higher titles brought greater favors from Shattered Starry Sky. Contributions and Titles represented an Apostle’s value to Shattered Starry Sky. As an employer-employee relationship, what boss dislikes a hardworking employee?
Compared to that, Shattered Crystals felt less critical. As universal currency, they remained necessary, but Qin Lun didn’t currently require vast quantities.
Regarding the Faerûn Dark Gold Box versus the World Special Treasure, Qin Lun chose the latter. The box seemed attractive with two or three Dark Gold pieces, but the type and attributes relied purely on luck – something he never trusted.
Though yielding only one item, Qin Lun performed exceptionally well this world, achieving a rare second Gold Evaluation. He privately hoped Shattered Starry Sky might offer special “favor” like his first Gold evaluation in the Orphan World.
Back in the Orphan World, after his Gold evaluation, the system rewarded him with an exceptional Dark Gold shield – the Hexagonal Prism Shield.
Its unparalleled attributes and attached skills haunted Qin Lun to this day. Though swapping the shield for the Dark Gold weapon FN-500 plus some skill scrolls felt necessary back then, hindsight screamed it was a bad trade.
The FN-500 Dark Gold pistol was obsolete now, but that shield would remain strong defense even for a High-Rank Apostle.
If Shattered Starry Sky showed “favor” due to this Gold evaluation, Qin Lun would profit immensely. Especially since the Special Treasure option explicitly stated: (based on this world’s mission experience).
During Qin Lun’s Toril World adventure, he obtained Starfall Iron, Serthel’s Eight-Sided Blade, the World Tree Longbow, the Undead Sacred Artifact staff from Lich Hasheed, and a Frost Gem harvested from an Undead Centaur.
(The World Tree Longbow included a World Tree Heart Thumb Ring and eleven Mithril Long Arrows crafted by Elder Adeline – originally twelve, but he’d used one against the Earth Salamander in Ironstar Fortress).
The Frost Gem and Starfall Iron were undoubtedly crafting materials. The Blade, Longbow, and Artifact, however, were complete equipment. Their sheer high quality prevented World Law from integrating them into Shattered Starry Sky, hence demotion to materials.
If the system “favored” Qin Lun, spending resources to “forge” these three items itself… any resulting equipment would be profitable, especially since two items were Legendary quality.
After selecting his rewards, starlight emerged around Qin Lun’s light-form, slowly merging into his Apostle Soul Mark. His soul-light figure’s aura surged.
This Law Body enhancement further improved Qin Lun’s attributes. But he was in no mood to check now.
Since returning from the Hunter World, he hadn’t rested. Then came constant life-or-death dangers in Toril World. Complex emotions from encounters involving Iristin and especially the Lost Team had utterly drained him. He longed only to return to Shattered Starry Sky and sleep soundly.
Hastily closing the Death Notice panel without finishing the settlement list, Qin Lun propelled his consciousness away from the Boundary Dimension.
“Notification: Apostle 70053, returning to Shattered Starry Sky in 10 seconds. Countdown begins…”
