Missions

"Ding!"

Lester's phone made a sound and vibrated simultaneously, getting his attention from the computer screen he was currently using. Although he didn't want to take his face away from the screen, the constant buzzing on the top of a table made it almost impossible to ignore.

The situation was indeed dire as humans were falling at an alarming rate. Lester has gone up over one hundred points in the rankings simply due to the fact that certain cultivators who were ahead of him had lost their lives. There were constant videos on the internet of cultivators with immense power, getting completely violated by beasts.

Lester was also checking some information in regards to the real strongest cultivators in the world. The media had an Idea of the powerful cultivators, however, their estimates were complete guesses from recording and reports.

The Cultivation Island, however, had invested in a scouting network that kept track of certain individuals or groups of individuals and kept the leaderboards updated weekly. The number of employees for this island was tremendous, but the owner could afford every cent, as he was indeed one of the richest in the world.

Not to his surprise, the Water Prince was still first, but the top ten was completely different, as only the Sword Hero remained between both. In the ranking of the media around the world, the Sword Hero was seen as the second strongest, whilst in the Cultivation Island rankings, he was simply ranked at tenth.

The videos that people like the Sword Hero would have published were clearly filmed professionally as the cinematography was typically top-notch. Although Lester looked down on these theatrics, he understood the use of it as it had indeed made average humans believe he was almost on par with the water prince. Not to mention the money and resources he is being able to receive due to these theatrics.

That's the difference between the availability of information. He was also checking the shop on his phone, which at the moment was quite barren. There was still a lack of resources, especially since humans barely were able to explore areas with wildlife. Humanity was weak, and the strongest they got they would be able to have more resources to control.

Lesters gets up and takes his phone as he notices a message from the floor group to meet in the living room as they were about to see a few missions. Although they had this phone group, there weren't many conversations between them as they truly mostly spent time practicing.

Lester scratched his head as he had just realized three days had passed just like that. From improving his proficiency with his skills, to research, and cultivation his days were pretty filled and busy. So it was easy to let the days pass without even knowing it.

He was quite happy with his progress in the past month though, as he has been feeling more comfortable with his manipulation, as his core was getting filled slowly but surely.

Going into his bedroom, he put on his black robe which was in a better condition this time after a wash or two, and walked out of his room where he was welcomed by his other three floor mates.

"Yo!" Patrick waved as he was on his phone, and the Hair Witch nodded.

"Hey join us, we are about to head to the assignments building to choose a suitable mission for us." the Sunlight Holy Man said with a friendly smile as the others began to gather near the exit.

All four of them left the floor through the same elevator they came out of. Exiting the building, the bright sun beamed down towards them, as the day was sunny without a cloud on sight. People were moving through the roads talking to one another, however, things seemed different this time.

When Lester first joined there was a spirit of adventure and pride, now there seemed to be a complete shift in the attitude of the many cultivators going by. The expressions and atmosphere that these people executed were that of fear and anxiety.

As Lester walked, he witnessed these expressions on many people, and he understood the reason. The evolved beasts have been more powerful than us, and it seemed like the humans were losing the battle.

Walking towards the Assignment building wasn't too difficult, as the blocky building sat on the outskirts of the city. The entrance was quite average as there were several big doors to go through.

"Wow… This place is never this empty." Said the Holy Man as they walked towards one of the entrances.

The inside was huge, as there were many touch screens monitors all around. There were at most twenty people inside, and Lester was sure that around one hundred could fit in here.

"Come, let's pick one." Said the Holy Man as he moved towards the nearest monitor and placed his badge on the screen, which caused the screen to change into a menu screen where the Holy Man proceeded to press a few buttons and then a few images appeared.

"Great so these are our options. After putting in the number of people, and after the system took my ranking into account, it gave me missions that we are allowed to take, take a look." the Holy Man pointed as he moved away slightly.

Everyone approached and began to check the recommendations. There are a few missions to escort government officials of foreign countries through certain lands, and others to take out a certainly evolved beast that has been wreaking havoc.

Ultimately they chose two missions that so happened to be in the same area. First, there was a mission to investigate a village that has stopped contact with the nearby biggest city of Kolkata in India. There was also a mission in West Bengal to take down an evolved beast chital, which could be handled by the four of them.

After picking these two missions something interesting happened. A compartment below the tablet opened up and sent out two tiny transparent bags which possessed two necklaces inside.

The necklace was simple as the chain was silver and the main feature of the necklace was a transparent blue sphere that hung on the silver necklace making it look quite nice.

The Holy Man grabbed them and gave them to Lester and Patrick, "These are our transportation devices, also known as Qi Bubble of Wind, once you place your qi into it, your necklace will expand and surround you, making you look like you are in a bubble. Then it takes you to wherever you put your mind into. Don't use it frivolously though as there are only ten uses on these... For more, you need to pay contribution points."

Both Lester and Patrick nodded as they placed the necklace on themselves.

"Great! Let's roll out!" Said Patrick as his eyes showed some excitement.

As the four of them were walking out of the building, a group of three was coming in.

All three men had similar clothes as they wore a brown gi with a white belt around their waist. On their backs, there were huge axes, and as they walked, the movement from the ax made a clunking sound with every step. They all each had short hair and long beards that went down to their chests. The only differentiating things about them were the colors of their hair. One man was a brunette, another a blonde, and lastly, a ginger man.

The man ahead of the three took a pause on his walk as he noticed Lester's group and spoke, "It seems like the warrior's heart is leaving everyone on this island. Good to see people picking up more missions, the world needs it. Stay alive boys."

Lester and the group looked to the three and nodded with a smile, "To you as well brother. We need to show these beasts that humanity is not yet defeated." The Holy Man said as he gave a deeper nod and continued walking towards the rest.

The three men smiled and continued walking.

Lester knew the tree, and they were no pushover. They were ranked in the early four hundred and were quite famous for being triplets. They also possessed a great ax-wielding technique which has allowed them to reach the middle stage and make quite a name for themselves in Northern Europe and their homeland of Norway.

Lester was also pumped by the encounter. Although there was a sense of fear and anxiousness, there was never a loss of hope. Lester knew humanity could prevail and he would do all in his power to help humanity's progress. With his mind focused on the mission, Lester felt ready.