"A big mission?" Kloss scratched his head, asking somewhat confused, "What big mission?"
"For example, a mission that can directly promote me to the gold rank," Jiang Mian said, "Preferably one that can be completed in a single go."
Kloss asked, "Are you perhaps also thinking of participating in the Brave Competition?"
"Two people's strength is always greater than one person's," Jiang Mian shook his fist and smiled, "Brother, I want to help you with this."
"Thank you so much," Kloss cupped his hands and said heavily, "Jiang Mian, with your words, if you have any trouble in the future, just say so, and I will definitely help."
"Aren't you wishing for something to happen to me?" Jiang Mian punched Kloss in the chest and laughed, "Let's not waste any more time. When is your Brave Competition being held?"
"There's less than a month left," Kloss counted on his fingers, "We can take a jade-rank mission, which will directly advance us to the gold rank."
"Why is it a downgrade?" Jiang Mian asked.
"We are two people," Kloss laughed, "The rank of the mission obtained will naturally be halved."
"So that's how it is," Jiang Mian suddenly realized. After Kloss exchanged the bounty list and upgraded his rank, the Adventurers' Guild awarded Kloss a silver-white medal.
This medal represented that Kloss was now a silver-rank adventurer.
"Are you also just starting to accumulate adventurer ranks?" Jiang Mian asked curiously, "With your strength, you should have been able to become a silver rank long ago, right?"
"That's right," Kloss nodded, "I only left that old man's side half a month ago."
"I knew it," Jiang Mian couldn't help but complain in his heart. So this guy was a Xiao Bai who hadn't experienced much of the World. Otherwise, how could he so casually tell Jiang Mian his secrets? Jiang Mian initially thought he was honest, but he didn't expect him to be unaware of the dangers of the World.
"Do you know where there are jade-rank missions?" Jiang Mian inquired, "Let's get it done quickly."
"Such a question depends on luck," Kloss explained to Jiang Mian, "It depends on which village has people offering such jade-rank missions for us to accept, but there are basically no jade-rank bounties."
"Why?"
"Firstly, the bounty is expensive, not something an ordinary village can afford."
"Secondly, jade-rank missions are basically for extremely ferocious Spirit Beasts that won't appear in human areas, because the places where humans live are protected by gods, and those Spirit Beasts would be driven away and hunted down by gods if they appeared."
"So that's how it is," Jiang Mian had already deduced the general information from Kloss's words, meaning that jade rank and above would not appear on village bounty boards. Most of them were trials bestowed by gods to brave ones.
Then Jiang Mian thought about raising his rank, could he only accumulate it slowly step by step? That would take forever!
------
"Where's Jiang Mian?"
In the Extreme North, Ice Emperor and Rui Beast sat opposite each other. They disliked each other and didn't even speak a word.
It wasn't until Di Tian led the Ten Thousand Demon King to arrive that the atmosphere slightly eased.
Bi Ji and Zi Ji were left by Di Tian in the Star Dou Great Forest to guard their home, preventing other Spirit Beasts or Spirit Masters from plotting evil.
"He was sucked into the spatial turbulence," Rui Beast smacked her lips, seemingly complaining that Di Tian had arrived too late, "But he should still not be in mortal danger."
"Where are Bear Lord and Red King?" Di Tian's expression was serious, clearly somewhat angry, "Are they idiots? Why didn't they follow Jiang Mian!"
"Jiang Mian didn't bring them when he came," Rui Beast stood up and said, "Di Tian, the most urgent task is how to find Jiang Mian."
"Let me try," Di Tian suddenly released his spirit power. His spirit power surged like a great river hitting the shore, and even the Ice Emperor instantly felt an irresistible pressure.
Rui Beast stood behind Di Tian, looking at the Ice Emperor with a proud expression. The Ten Thousand Demon King guarded Rui Beast, afraid that something might happen to her too.
Boom!
The suction of the spatial turbulence surged forth. Di Tian stood motionless in front of the turbulence. He ordered, "Ten Thousand Demon King, watch these two. I will go in and look for them."
"Be careful," the Ten Thousand Demon King instructed. He protected the Ice Emperor and Rui Beast. Di Tian nodded and slowly walked into the spatial turbulence.
"Is this Di Tian's strength?" The Ice Emperor was somewhat incredulous. Although the suction of the spatial turbulence was far less than the first time, Di Tian seemed too relaxed, as if strolling through a leisurely garden.
Was the gap between herself and Di Tian really that big?
"Are these multiple spaces gathered together?" Di Tian walked through the spatial turbulence. He looked at the more than ten small spaces around him, his brows slightly furrowed, "How can there be so many spaces superimposed together?"
"Why is there no sensation at all?" Di Tian clasped his hands behind his back. He slowly walked towards the spatial gate closest to him, "I can only search for them one by one."
"Kill!" As soon as Di Tian entered the space, he heard a deafening sound of shouting and killing. He looked towards the source of the sound and found that on a towering city wall in the distance, there were many giants emitting golden light defending the city.
And attacking below were lava giants with magma flowing through their bodies and ice giants covered in ice, as well as some wizards emitting green light all over their bodies.
"War?" Di Tian looked at those giants that resembled Spirit Beasts but also felt they weren't. He had intended to release his spirit power to sense Jiang Mian's location, as Jiang Mian had Rui Beast's attributes, and Di Tian was closely related to Rui Beast, so he could use that as a medium to sense Jiang Mian.
As soon as he released his spirit power, a huge hailstone suddenly flew from a distance. Di Tian dodged to the side, and an unknown anger surged in his heart.
He was already anxious about finding Jiang Mian, and it had been many years since any creature dared to fight Di Tian. This giant was so blind. Di Tian suddenly felt that it was still not too late to deal with these crawling insects first before looking for Jiang Mian!
Roar!
A dragon's roar descended from the sky. Many lava giants and ice giants were instantly pulverized upon hearing the dragon's roar.
Those human giants who were originally exhausted from defending the city saw this situation and then looked at the small figure that suddenly appeared on the battlefield. They looked at each other, their eyes finally falling on their commander.
"I don't know either," the commander shook his head, indicating that he also didn't recognize the newcomer.
"Thank the heavens!" The soldiers immediately understood what was going on. They fell to their knees, first kowtowing three times to the heavens, and then knelt for a long time towards Di Tian, as if Di Tian was the embodiment of the heavens!
"What's going on?"
In a short while, those lava giants and ice giants were completely cleared by Di Tian. The mastermind, seeing that the situation was not right, immediately ordered a retreat.
Di Tian glanced at the giants surrendering to him in the distance, and without any hesitation, turned and left this space.
------
"Kloss, look at that," Jiang Mian and Kloss walked on a deserted path. They were preparing to go to a big city to try their luck, hoping to encounter a higher-rank mission. Jiang Mian, with his sharp eyes, discovered a sign standing in the distance, with something written on it.
"Fifty li ahead, Barren Beast Wasteland, Crystal Emperor Lion sighted, diamond-rank bounty, reward 300,000 gold coins, and bestowed the title of Earl."
"Crystal Emperor Lion?" Jiang Mian took down the sign and held it in his hand, "Kloss, should we give it a try?"
"Are you sure?" Kloss's eyes widened, somewhat surprised, "This is a diamond-rank bounty, comparable to a mission bestowed by a god."
"What's the problem with that?" Jiang Mian spread his hands and said, "When we win first place in the Brave Competition, won't we be doing this kind of mission anyway?"
"I don't care, I'm just afraid you'll get hurt," Kloss said bluntly. From his words, it could be heard that this guy was very confident in his own strength.
"Just kidding, brother, I can handle it with ease," Jiang Mian said disdainfully.
Silver rank corresponds to Spirit Elder, gold rank corresponds to Spirit Ancestor, and so on. This diamond rank only corresponds to Spirit Emperor. He had just killed a Spirit Emperor before coming here.
"Then let's go," Kloss carried the sign and led Jiang Mian towards the Barren Beast Wasteland. What diamond rank? He would fight diamond ranks.
Jiang Mian and Kloss covered the fifty li distance in almost two hours, reaching their destination. But the vast wasteland was also thousands of kilometers wide. Their search for the Crystal Emperor Lion was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Kloss gathered a pile of firewood and lit it using the primitive method of rubbing sticks. Jiang Mian took out his bought dry rations and shared them with Kloss.
Scattered clouds dotted the sky, and the wind seemed very noisy.
"Something's coming!" Kloss suddenly lay on the ground, listening to the movement from below. Jiang Mian, of course, didn't need to be told. With his spirit power released, he had already sensed what was coming early on.
The ground suddenly cracked open, and a large brown Diglett burrowed out from under Kloss. Fortunately, Kloss was agile and jumped aside in time, preventing the beast from successfully ambushing him.
"Soul Rock Rat," Kloss recognized the type of Spirit Beast at a glance, "This kind of Spirit Beast is a carnivore, often preying on humans, and belongs to the gold rank."
"Hmm," Jiang Mian nodded. He looked at the Soul Rock Rat, unconcerned. It hadn't even reached the ten-thousand-year level, and it was already gold rank?
Right, the people here are purely body cultivators, without special means, so the Spirit Beasts in the sky, water, and underground here generally have high ratings.
Jiang Mian yawned. With a casual wave of his hand, five pure claw blades flew towards the Soul Rock Rat. The poor Spirit Beast didn't even have time to react and was directly split into shredded meat by Jiang Mian's Tearing Sky Claw.
Tearing Sky Claw was Bear Lord's famous ultimate skill. In the past, even Di Tian had been injured by this move, let alone this little mouse.
Jiang Mian's current strength was not enough, so he could only exert one-tenth or two-tenths of Bear Lord's Tearing Sky Claw's power, but even so, it was much stronger than these foolish body cultivators.
"Can you use a wizard's magic?" Kloss clenched his fist. He suddenly threw a punch forward, wanting to achieve the same effect as Jiang Mian, but it was in vain.
"Is a wizard's magic more powerful than mine?" Jiang Mian had basically understood what this World was about. Most of the people here were warriors, the kind who relied purely on close combat. A few talented ones would become wizards and could cast magic.
Above them were the gods living on the divine mountains. Their physical bodies and magic were both very powerful, just like the Spirit Masters in the Douluo Continent World. Gods also had different ranks. The simplest way to become a god was to participate in the Brave Competition, where one could make a request to the gods to become a god themselves.
Every god had their own territory, and they needed to protect the safety of the people in their territory. According to Kloss, the gods with territories were the highest-ranking gods, totaling thirteen, usually residing on the divine mountains, only descending to the human World on special days and for events.
"Hmph," Jiang Mian disdained such high and mighty gods the most. What gods? They clearly weren't good guys. He came here for three things: fairness, fairness, and damn fairness!
"The Soul Rock Rat meat is very fragrant, want some?" Kloss casually broke off a small tree as thick as a wrist and sharpened it with a dagger, like a skewer. He skewered the meat and roasted it over the bonfire.
"Oh my goodness, such a big skewer!" Jiang Mian looked at the skewer, which was longer than himself, and couldn't help but swallow. This would be satisfying to eat, a few bites and he'd be full.
Sizzling sounds came from the skewer. Kloss flipped the skewer back and forth, occasionally sprinkling some mysterious seasoning on it.
Jiang Mian only felt the aroma assailing his nostrils, a pure meat aroma without any additives.
"Give me a piece," Jiang Mian was not polite. He used Tearing Sky Claw to tear off a large piece of roasted rat meat and gnawed on it, his mouth full of oil.
He didn't know if it was inherently delicious or due to Kloss's mysterious seasoning, but Jiang Mian felt that this meat was a delicacy he had never tasted before. The meat was firm, and with one bite, the juice exploded directly in his mouth, a freshness that was indescribable.
Jiang Mian devoured the meat, which was as big as a washbasin, like a whirlwind. He patted his bulging belly, his face full of satisfaction.
Kloss was even more unrestrained, eating like a wild beast, without any elegance.
"Delicious," Kloss lay beside Jiang Mian, laughing heartily, "Sure enough, Master didn't lie to me."
"Who exactly is that old man?"
After these past few days of getting along, Jiang Mian felt that the old man Kloss spoke of was particularly profound and mysterious. He seemed to know everything, which made Jiang Mian particularly curious about his identity.
"You'll know then," Kloss was usually carefree, but whenever Jiang Mian asked him this question, he would evade it, unwilling to continue speaking.
"This guy, outwardly carefree, is actually very meticulous inside," Jiang Mian stroked his chin, observing Kloss, who had already fallen asleep.
He looked up at the starry sky, only sighing that it was another sleepless night. It wasn't that Jiang Mian didn't want to sleep; it was simply that the spirit power in this World was too abundant. Cultivating here improved one's speed several times faster than in the Douluo World.
Jiang Mian now felt that he was about to advance from level fifty-two to level fifty-three. He had only been here for a few days. At the current rate, perhaps his spirit power would break through level sixty by the time he left.
The night was half over. Jiang Mian got up to relieve himself. The Barren Beast Wasteland at night was without any lights. The bright moon was obscured by dark clouds, and the World was pitch black.
"Kloss, don't touch me," Jiang Mian felt something poking him from behind. He thought Kloss had also gotten up to use the restroom, so he casually touched behind him, "Hey, why are you wet?"
"No!"