However, since it involved the secret cult, Jiang Lin didn't dare to take it lightly.
After asking Little Black for some details, he picked up the cat and headed to the Temple to make a report.
Jiang Lin had been visiting the Temple frequently over the last few days, and some of the staff on duty were starting to recognize him.
Just as Jiang Lin was about to explain his purpose to a staff member, a sturdy figure appeared.
"Mr. Jiang Lin, is there something you need at the Temple?"
Jiang Lin looked up and saw a fierce-looking man standing before him. A gold badge was pinned to his chest, representing his status as an elite member of the Temple.
At that moment, the staff member nearby spoke first to greet the burly man.
"Lord Crixus."
Crixus? Did he know him?
Jiang Lin brainstormed for a long time but couldn't find an answer.
"Sorry, but may I ask who you are...?"
Jiang Lin really couldn't remember, so he asked.
"My name is Crixus Lawrence. I am Frederick's older brother. My younger brother once lost at your hands."
Frederick actually had an older brother who was at least rank-4?!
Jiang Lin felt a sudden surge of pressure.
Would he try to settle the score?
"Haha, Mr. Jiang Lin, there's no need to be nervous. My brother's lack of skill is his own problem. I was just passing by while on duty and came over to meet a young talent like yourself."
Sensing Jiang Lin's subtle hesitation, Crixus spoke plainly.
Jiang Lin hadn't expected this fierce-looking powerhouse to be so humble and polite. He was much better than that guy Frederick.
After their brief interaction over the last two days, while Jiang Lin couldn't be sure of Frederick's character, he could confirm that the personal conduct of that guy and his mage buddies definitely left much to be desired.
"I see. It's an honor to meet you. I encountered some people acting strangely on Galae Street in the west of the city. I suspect they might be cultists, so I came to report it."
Crixus was surprised by Jiang Lin's words.
New cultists were appearing this quickly?
The previous evil god incident hadn't even been fully investigated yet.
And supposedly, this kid was the one who reported it last time, right?
"Mm, I understand."
With that, he turned to the staff member and said:
"Mr. Ignazio, I'll take over this matter. We won't follow the usual protocols. I'll use the fastest procedure; it'll be quicker to handle that way."
The staff member clearly hadn't expected Crixus to remember his name and was flattered.
"No problem, Lord Crixus!"
"Mr. Jiang Lin, do you have time this morning? Could you spare about an hour to lead us to the place where you found the suspected cultist traces?"
Before Jiang Lin could answer, Little Black in his arms hurriedly sent him a telepathy message:
'You have time! You have time! Take them there! I'll guide the way!'
Thus, Jiang Lin nodded.
"Yes, it doesn't really matter whether I attend this morning's classes or not."
The process after that was quite simple.
With Little Black guiding the way, Jiang Lin soon led Crixus to the stronghold where the group of cultists was located.
Once the instruments detected the aura of an evil god, it was the familiar routine of cordoning off the scene and clearing out the interior of the building.
Unlike at the school—where they had to find hidden cultists and check everyone one by one—this was a direct raid on a cultist den. In the dark basement, the array formations required for sacrifices were already carved, and sacrificial items were laid out.
Consequently, the paladins and warriors charged in like a swarm, destroying the den and capturing all personnel they could control, preparing to interrogate them through their network to root out more accomplices.
While all this was happening, Jiang Lin stood by holding Little Black, watching without needing to intervene.
Seeing this scene, Little Black was gleeful, though it was unclear if it was schadenfreude or simply happiness at seeing cat snatchers punished.
Jiang Lin felt that Little Black had undergone some changes since they met, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what they were.
Maybe it was becoming more sunny and cheerful. Look how happily it was laughing. After all, as the saying goes, one takes the color of one's company. With a sunny and cheerful master like himself, it was hard not to lean toward the light.
At this moment, Jiang Lin remembered his title.
"By the way, Little Black, do you know what the Blood Realm is?"
'Blood Realm? What the hell is that? Never heard of it,' Little Black replied after a moment of thought.
"Then what about a blood demon? Have you heard of that?"
'What blood demon? The world is huge; there are plenty of cow demons and horse demons. The newspapers even say there's a midnight lecher in Boulder City. I don't know what blood demon you're talking about.'
This time, Little Black answered without even thinking.
Jiang Lin looked at Little Black with a face full of black lines.
Is this guy really an evil god? How does it know nothing?
"Then what about the 【Demon Lord Trial】? Surely you've heard of that?"
While watching the Temple people take down the cultists, Little Black replied:
'That... I do know about that. If the demon race in your world wants to qualify as a demon lord, they need to undergo the so-called 【Demon Lord Trial】. I'm planning to try one if I get the chance later. It has nothing to do with you humans. Why are you, a human, concerned about this?'
Hearing this, Jiang Lin was somewhat confused.
Humans can't participate? Then what does the system mean? It doesn't want me to be human anymore?
"Are you sure humans can't participate?"
Little Black took it as a given.
'Of course. Anyone who doesn't have a pure human bloodline can participate in this trial. But if you have a pure human bloodline, you'll be rejected.'
Jiang Lin looked at the system's 【Demon Lord Trial Qualification】 and chose to believe the system.
There would definitely be a corresponding solution!
"Then roughly what level do demons usually go to challenge this 【Demon Lord Trial】?"
He was curious about when he would be able to go and challenge it.
'That... I don't know. But those who participate in such trials are at least at the overlord level to start with, right? I'll probably reach overlord level around level 40. If you aren't dead by then, your Lord Lilith will take you to see the world.'
As a high-and-mighty evil god, Little Black wasn't very clear on the specific details of the process.
Jiang Lin nodded thoughtfully.
That meant if he had to compete against other demons, his opponents would be at an average overlord level?
Overlord-level creatures had strong abilities to fight above their rank. Jiang Lin felt that compared to an overlord of the same level, he was still somewhat inferior; his accumulated foundation wasn't deep enough.
No wonder the system said the task was difficult and wouldn't let him challenge it yet.
"Then what about the Abyss of Slaughter? Do you know what kind of place that is?"
As Jiang Lin spoke, he noticed Little Black visibly freeze in his arms.
'The Abyss of Slaughter? How do you know about that thing?'
Seeing that Little Black's reaction seemed a bit off, Jiang Lin hurriedly asked:
"It's too complicated to explain. Just assume the God of Holy Light gave me a divine decree to go there. So, what is it?"
Little Black was half-shocked and half-suspicious upon hearing Jiang Lin's words.
'Even you deserve a divine decree from the God of Holy Light?
'The Abyss of Slaughter is no benevolent place. Even we evil gods avoid it like the plague.'
Jiang Lin was shocked.
A place where even evil gods didn't dare to go—what did the system mean by making him go there?
"Can you elaborate?"
However, Little Black shook its head.
'I'm not very clear on the specifics. I only know that the Abyss of Slaughter is a very terrifying and dangerous space. This is a memory carved into my body since the moment I was born.'
Hearing this, Jiang Lin asked curiously:
"Hey, Little Black, how are you evil gods born?"
However, there was no follow-up to this question.
'Don't worry about so much, kid. You can't reach that level yet.'
Seeing that Little Black was ignoring him, Jiang Lin could only continue watching the Temple combat personnel round up this cultist den.
Afterward, they returned to the Temple. Because Jiang Lin's report was meritorious, the Temple staff let him choose between library borrowing points and gold coins.
Jiang Lin didn't hesitate and chose the borrowing points.
Borrowing points couldn't be bought with money; they could only be obtained through special channels.
If it wasn't an anonymous report and the report was valid, one would generally receive 5 borrowing points, which was equivalent to one mid-tier skill.
Last time, the Temple Head himself had spoken and allowed Jiang Lin to take two skills back to study, which was already equivalent to an extra high-tier skill, so they hadn't mentioned borrowing points to him then.
Consequently, the balance on Jiang Lin's borrowing card changed from 30 points to 35 points.
Having handled these trifles, Jiang Lin returned to school to continue his daily studies.
The days that followed were quite peaceful.
The cult Jiang Lin reported showed no intention of retaliating, and they hadn't gained much influence yet, so the Temple handled them quite easily.
Meanwhile, the all-nighter culture in the other two schools was also developing steadily, gradually forming a significant scale.
As for Radiant Junior Magic Academy, although Director Wills was now overwhelmed, receiving complaints from parents every day and even having the Temple come to check up on them several times, the students' enthusiasm for staying up late was growing higher and higher. More and more students were staying at school at night instead of going home.
Especially after the mid-term theory exams were finished and the comprehensive exam rankings came out.
Jiang Lin, the leader of the all-nighters, emerged as the number one in the grade, while the other members of the All-Nighter Group also made rapid progress.
For example, Jiang Lin's original desk-mate, Tie Chen, actually passed all his theory exams!
On the day the results came out, he ran off to find that girl again, wanting to get closer to her. However, he discovered that not long after she had rejected him last time, she had already started seeing someone else. He immediately burst into tears and ran to the elite class to cry to Jiang Lin.
And after some comfort from Jiang Lin, he cried even louder.
Afterward, he made up his mind to ignore worldly affairs and only seek to become strong himself.
As for the progress of the other All-Nighter Group members, everyone saw it for themselves.
Actually, it would have been fine if they hadn't seen it, but once they did, they felt that if they didn't stay up late, they would fall behind others. Watching them stay up late created a sense of urgency.
Thus, many people who originally didn't want to stay up late began to do so as well.
After all, if you don't stay up, plenty of others will.
If you don't show ambition, plenty of others will.
This even led to a slight increase in the price of 【Mental Invigoration Potion】 in the city's magic potion shops for a period.
However, the price hike was soon adjusted by an invisible hand, returning to its proper price. In fact, because production gradually increased, some potion shops even started preparing to lower prices and start a price war.
If you don't lower your price, plenty of other shops are willing to!
Jiang Lin's progress was also quite obvious.
After bringing Little Black back, he began attending classes in the elite class.
The content of the classes already included basic knowledge of high-tier magic.
However, Jiang Lin couldn't understand it, so he simply sought out Little Black to learn skills.
Consequently, after owing more than ten souls, Jiang Lin successfully learned two advanced versions of 【Strengthening Technique】 over the next two days and used 【Random Skill Upgrade】 to raise them to the superlative level.
After spending a bit more time, he successfully figured out a way to fuse the three grades of strengthening techniques together, and the power was indeed greatly increased.
Additionally, once the memory infusion cooldown was over, Jiang Lin also raised two low-level skills to the limit-broken state.
【Stone Skin (limit-breakable 0/2) → (limit-broken)】
【Self-base defense increased, Stone Skin skill effect enhanced】
【Defense-type skill talent increased】
【Low-level Healing (limit-breakable 0/2) → (limit-broken)】
【Low-level magic knowledge accumulation increased】
He also collected his daily tasks for these two days:
【stamina】: 12,000 → 14,000
【mental power】: 9,400 → 11,400
【Random Skill Upgrade 32 → 25】
There were still 61 days until the graduation assessment.
Jiang Lin sat cross-legged in the elite class classroom.
Around him were his kind and amiable elite class classmates.
Ever since Jiang Lin transferred to their class, these elite class students had felt immense pressure.
This guy Jiang Lin was like he never grew tired, sitting in his seat every day without fail to practice his breathing technique.
This caused some elite class students who had originally wanted to go home to completely abandon the idea.
If the number one student was still working hard, what right did they have to rest?
Thus, from the day Jiang Lin arrived, no one from the elite class of Radiant Junior Magic Academy ever went home again.
Director Wills had come to find Jiang Lin once, but Jiang Lin simply told him to let things play out for a while.
Although Wills didn't understand what he meant by that, he felt that Jiang Lin seemed full of confidence and could solve the school's all-nighter problem.
So Director Wills decided to wait and see.
Until today, when he heard rumors from the two neighboring friendly schools about students not sleeping and staying up late to cultivate.
And according to several of his leadership friends from those friendly schools, it seemed that the top student of his own school had spread this trend to them.
Upon hearing the news, Director Wills fell silent for a long while, looking up at the sky in his office and contemplating life.
Afterward, he appeared before Jiang Lin with the high-tier skill he had promised him.
"Student Jiang Lin, if things develop as expected, the pressure on the school's side can indeed be resolved. You have performed a great service!"
Director Wills walked up to Jiang Lin and spoke earnestly.
However, Jiang Lin ignored his arrival because he was currently at a critical juncture.
With the condensation and fall of the final drop of liquid, the small bowl inside Jiang Lin was filled once again.
The quality of magic essence in his body underwent a change, and Jiang Lin's life level rose by another rank.
【Level: 4 → 5】
【stamina】: 14,000 → 14,500
【mental power】: 11,400 → 11,500
His level had broken through once again!
Who would have thought, who would have thought—could these be the stat values belonging to a paladin of only level 5?
If the current Jiang Lin were placed back into the mid-term assessment...
Even without using his 【Jetting Aura】, he could completely rely on his own raw strength to sweep through everything.
Rate on N.U.
