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If I had to compare the two girls, I would say Bitong was the sciency girl of this group, while Lixiang was clearly the magical girl of our group. In fact, her whole family were magical girls…

Right now, this fantasy nerd was practically drooling as she stared wide-eyed at Icy Inferno. The fact that it materialised out of thin air was the greatest shock to her.

However, with Jiaojiao being the proverbial cat that got killed by its curiosity, even Lixiang wasn’t going to touch Icy Inferno anytime soon. Instead, she folded her arms around her chest and laughed, “Hah. As if the power of a divine weapon could be handled by a mere mortal!”

Unlike her, Bitong was busy comforting the little girl and did not have any time to spare on Lixiang… for now. Emphasis on for now… because knowing what I did about Bitong, this was just the calm before the storm.

Naturally, I did not wish to see them fight, so I quickly tried to defuse the situation. “The sword is called Icy Inferno, an epic-grade weapon that has the properties of both fire and ice.”

Thanks to Bitong’s comforting, Jiaojiao was feeling a lot calmer now, her puppy dog eyes wide with curiosity once more. “So what level would an epic-grade weapon be considered?”

“That’s the grade below Legend. And Legend is a divine weapon!” Lixiang answered, folded arms around her chest still, and her nose high up in the sky. “Kids like you should spend more time learning things, not messing around with some foolish girl. She will just turn you stupid as well.”

“Who are you calling foolish?” Bitong glared at Lixiang. “And what do you mean Epic? Legend? Those are all terms from a game.”

“So is this one wrong then?”

“Lixiang… I’m afraid to say this but… The grade above Epic is Demigod. Divine is what’s above Demigod.”

That was the answer given to me by the system. Within that answer, there was no Legend-grade.

“…” Hearing that, Lixiang was visibly stunned.

Now that her rival had her winds taken out of her sails, Bitong big-heartedly went back to comforting Jiaojiao, instead of rubbing it in further. After all, internal conflict wasn’t going to help anyone now.

“Ding! A mission has appeared…”

Mission: First Blood
Objectives: Kill ten zombies
Reward: One name slot for the Book of Oaths
Comments: If you want something, you gotta earn it, boy.

A name slot for the Book of Oaths?

You mean there are restrictions on that book?

With how strangely coincidental the timing of this mission was, I couldn’t help but take a closer look at the rewards. And upon further consideration… I realised that system had pulled a fast one on me again…

I took out the Book of Oaths. It was a leather-bound book, typical of a fantasy setting, filled to the brim with words.

I carefully flipped through the instructions of the book and found that it had already acknowledged me as one of the targets. Furthermore, all I needed was a drop of blood to use the book once I had gotten a name slot.

However, it had to be said that this whole name slot nonsense sounded like another scam. I either got it through missions, or purchased it directly from the Marketplace… at 100 points!

And that wasn’t even the worst of it either. Upon purchasing one slot, the next would cost ten times of the previous!

That’s 1000! And 10000! If I buy a third. What the heck! This system had to be a con artist in her past life, if she even has one.

“Valued host, the effects of the Book of Oaths require splitting and duplicating the functions of the system onto the other target of the pact. Such a process cannot be duplicated infinitely, hence the steep cost. Please use this book wisely.”

So can sister Bitong use the Marketplace once she signs the pact?

“She can. Those who sign the pact will be awarded a subordinate Magical Girl Harem Grooming System. That system won’t have a mission function, but killing monsters will give her points independently. Furthermore, they will be able to open up the Marketplace when they are in the vicinity of our valued host. There won’t be additional penalties imposed on them when they use the products they purchased themselves.”

And can they use points to cultivate…

“Nope. That is a privilege only reserved for our valued host.”

I guess I was being a little greedy there.

At this point, I could barely contain my excitement… Once I’ve gotten a name slot for each of the girls, they can fight by my side as well. And even if they can’t fight well, they can at least protect themselves. That’s great!

But to think that the Book of Oaths actually copies the system… no wonder it’s so expensive…

If that’s the case, isn’t getting a name slot for just killing ten zombies a steal then? Have I been falsely accusing System Lady all this while?

If she had jumped out right now to agree, I probably would have thought she was trying to scam me again. However, she did not answer right away. Instead, I got one minute of silence where I honestly thought she was looking out for my interests.

Icy Inferno tightly gripped in my hands, I pushed open the door, only to be greeted by another ding from the system.

“Ding! Raid-sized Instance: Ruined City of the Damned, activate! Please stand by for battle…”

So we’ve left the safety zone then?

“Everyone, stay close. Sis, please look after Jiao. Lixiang, you can take care of yourself, but just don’t go running around for no reason.”

Now that we were out of our room, Jiaojiao anxiously tugged on Bitong’s sleeves as we proceeded forward, not even daring to breathe loudly.

The two girls followed closely behind me while Lixiang took the rear with Lina close to her chest.

Just like that, our perilous adventure off the cliff began.

——- At the same time in the outside world—–

Within the headquarters of the Federation’s Ministry of Defense, countless military men were furiously relaying downwards the commands given to them by their commanders.

The room was filled with holographic screens depicting the crisis facing Southern Plains. Hordes of zombies, mixed in with some strange undead creatures.

Because of the sudden nature of the zombie outbreak, the anti-riot police of Southern Plains did not even have the time to formulate a proper plan.

Policemen armed in their mechanised exosuits patrolled the streets, ready at a moment’s notice to engage in combat. The majority of the zombies were merely transformed from ordinary folk and thus had the strength of a One-star. They did not stand a chance against the strengthened exosuits, no matter how vast their numbers were.

The police were quick to gather the uninfected and evacuate them to underground shelters. In just the short span of an hour, over one hundred thousand citizens were evacuated.

However, the unthinkable happened. Of those taking refuge within the shelters, a number had already been infected. In fact, a number of the exosuit-armed police were suddenly zombified as well…

Southern Plains had entered an unprecedented state of emergency.

“****. Even the police were secretly taking that blasted serum… Have the military roll out, I want the virus contained immediately. Also, I want the research teams to work on a testing apparatus fast. Allowing the virus to stay hidden is just going to cause us more nightmares in the future…”

Dressed in a red military uniform, chest adorned with countless medals, a burly, bald general sat right in the middle of the situation room, barking orders to counter the situation in Southern Plains.

Yet before he could even finish giving his string of orders, he was promptly interrupted by an urgent message.

“General Rodenas, sir. Other than Southern Plains, we’ve received reports from ten other cities that they have zombie sightings as well… The planets of Ndorang, Bodono and Gastam have also reported sightings… their ambassadors are already lodging complaints…”

“What do you mean, complaints?! I don’t have enough hair left to deal with their nonsense!”

“Zombie sightings? Don’t those cities have their own defense forces as well?! Are they all on holiday or something? And those morons from Ndorang, Bodono and Gastam… didn’t the researchers already ban that serum’s sale, at least till its effects have been fully studied. I thought that was common knowledge?! It’s not like I shoved that serum down their throats… geez!”

“…” The communications channel remained open with the messenger

The bald general continued on with his tirade unabated.

“Those blasted fools in Southern Plains! Why couldn’t they just listen to those egg-heads in the research department! And those ambassadors can just shove it. I’m only charged with handling the crisis in Southern Plains, not their planets. Go find Foreign Affairs for their problems! What do they expect me to do? Send an army to their home planets?! As if their own governments would approve of that!”

Finally done with his rant, the general cut off communications with the messenger.

In truth, while these planets might have all sprouted from Gaia, the long years had basically seen each planet forming their own independent governments. The only ones the Federation could govern were those on Gaia.

Naturally, the ambassadors knew of this as well. They were merely trying to disrupt the general’s plans and hopefully worsen the crisis in the process. After all, they were separated by a whole planet from the crisis. Words were free, and so what if this fire burned even brighter? It’s not their fire.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE