Back home, Fang You caught his breath for a while, then clenched his fists tightly.
Awesome!
The ups and downs of tonight were too thrilling, especially when Black Blade slew the Mysterious Evil. He almost screamed out loud but only now did he completely relax.
Clenching his phone, he was too excited to contain himself.
Fang You carefully tested the game situation and found that, although it required a mobile phone as a medium, it... seemed not to consume any battery life.
This conjecture was confirmed after he turned off the phone.
The game could still run on a switched-off phone.
How did he start it, you ask?
He wanted to start it, so the game started.
This was a subjective game.
Having reached this conclusion, Fang You immediately dug out an old phone that had been phased out years ago.
Small memory.
It often lagged.
But it was perfectly fine for running the game in AFK mode, not interfering with his space for reading novels and playing games on his phone.
Perfect.
(Apostle of Fate: Are you being polite?)
"Sure enough, running the game on this crummy phone, there wasn't the slightest hint of lag, pure smoothness."
"This is the efficient use of outdated items."
Fang You entered the game.
After Black Blade killed the Mysterious Evil, the game seemed to have undergone a major update, with a vast amount of information.
He first checked his diary, browsing through the previous prompts.
'Destiny Points +2!'
He remembered that Destiny Points were related to Destiny Draws and were the most important resource in the game, akin to the cash-currency in a regular game.
Too bad this game didn't allow for microtransactions.
He opened the Destiny Draw tab, and his current number of available draws was zero, with 2 remaining Destiny Points.
'Hint: Your balance is insufficient.'
'Spend Destiny Points to purchase Destiny Ten-draws, the first purchase costs "3" Destiny Points, the second purchase requires "9" Destiny Points, the third purchase "27" Destiny Points, the fourth....'
'In contrast, as the number of draws increases, the probability of obtaining high-tier items from the River of Destiny or forming a contract with an Apostle of Fate will continue to rise.'
The only way to get the second, third, or even more Apostles of Fate was through Destiny Draws.
It appeared the game had no setting for giving away Apostles of Fate upon completion.
.... Not to mention, there were no actual levels.
"Black Blade was guaranteed from the start, but I wonder if I can draw another Apostle of Fate in the second ten-draw? According to the usual game probabilities, and my lack of luck, it seems a bit unlikely?"
"This second Apostle of Fate, will it be a burly dude or a missy.... I hope for a missy with a nice character design.... uh of course, she has to be strong enough, first and foremost."
If he had to choose between a delicate missy and a powerful man who could provide a sense of security, Fang You figured he might hesitate for a bit but would eventually choose the burly dude.
After all, safety isn't embarrassing.
Under the 'Destiny Draw' option, there used to be only two items: 'Envoy List' and 'Item List.'
But now there was a fourth item—'Dispatch Map.'
'Dispatch Map: This function can detect the presence of the Mysterious Evil within a certain range. By dispatching Angels Envoy to kill the Mysterious Evil and remove the threat, you can obtain Destiny Points, basic items, and other rewards.'
'This module includes a "Mysterious Evil Compendium," with "Knocking Child" currently entered, and the completeness of this Mysterious Evil's information is 33%.'
On the compendium screen, there was nothing but a pitch-black silhouette.
Not too tall, with sturdy legs and three claws.
But beyond that, there was nothing else to see, just an additional note, "A Mysterious Evil that likes to knock on doors. Perhaps they do this because they're very sick."
A complete enigma.
"It might be because Black Blade also can't see the Knocking Child, which is why it couldn't capture any images."
"Even though he can't see it, to be able to take down the Mysterious Evil with one... two strikes, Black Blade really is impressive."
"This bestiary doesn't seem very useful right now, but in the future, if there are more Angel Envoys in the organization, and more Mysterious Evils are entered into the bestiary, it should prove to be quite effective."
The future is promising!
But for now, Fang You closed the bestiary.
The mission dispatch module has several features, including 'Mysterious Evil Bestiary' and 'Dispatch Map' as its branches.
He opened the map.
It looked somewhat like yesterday when Black Blade was dispatched, only this time the map that appeared was larger, about... most of the southern district of Baijiang City.
His home was in the southern district.
On the circular map, a scanning light circled around, and soon, red indicators representing the presence of Mysterious Evils and available for mission dispatch began to pop up like bamboo shoots after a rain.
Things were really not looking good for Fang You!
His expression turned rigid.
Mysterious Evils meant missions, which meant profits, he should have been happy, but why, why was he only feeling coldness sweeping through him?
Baijiang City was a small city to begin with, and the southern old town area was even smaller.
Yet in such a small area, there were... as many as eleven places infested with Mysterious Evils.
How is one supposed to live with this!
Is this world really that dangerous?!
Fang You focused on the red indicators, with the nearest one just a few hundred meters from his home.
He became even more determined to just stay at home, clinging to his decision to stay in front of the game.
But just because he could stay tucked in at home didn't mean the Mysterious Evils would keep to themselves like hermits.
What if one day a Mysterious Evil decided to make a house call?
Still so dangerous, damn it!
He lightly touched one of the mission spots.
'Mysterious Evil: ??? (One Star)'
'Note: This danger level and the detected number of Mysterious Evils are for reference only. The dispatch system is not responsible for any accidents that occur.'
'Note: Upgrading the map's scanning features and completing the bestiary, or gathering information from other sources, can improve the accuracy of danger assessments.'
One star is the lowest rating.
Out of the eleven places with Mysterious Evils nearby, the scanning feature found ten of them to be one star, with only one being two stars.
No, how could I even use 'only' to describe it! It's terrifying!
Fang You considered, "One star might be the level of the Knocking Child, but the strength of one stars can vary—some could be stronger, others weaker."
"At the moment, there's no point of comparison available."
"But strong or weak, they all pose a deadly threat to ordinary people. Logically, there shouldn't be so many."
If the presence of Mysterious Evils was so common, the situation would have blown up already.
Considering the behavior pattern of the 'Knocking Child,' Fang You hypothesized that these Mysterious Evils each followed their own 'hunting' logic. If you don't fit the pattern... you're temporarily safe.
But they're like ticking time bombs, always moving, ready to explode at any moment.
Still very dangerous!
He wished he could summon Black Blade right now to clear out each and every one of these Mysterious Evils.
But the reality was,
Black Blade could only be dispatched once a day, and today's dispatch opportunity had already been used; he could only wait until tomorrow.
During this cooldown period, his sense of security was really shaky.
"Mission dispatch, clearing Mysterious Evils, that's definitely a job for the experienced and powerful Black Blade, while I'm just responsible for ultra-long-range support."
"But the waters of this world are deep and dangerous, relying solely on Black Blade is clearly not enough, I still have to rely on myself."
And since he himself is also on the list of Apostle of Fate, it means he can improve and shed the status of a weakling."