Pillar of Yita

The latter let out a shrill cry of surprise and wrath, and Fang Hong instantly felt the Sword Bearer below him enter an overheated Overload state. He hurriedly flicked his hand, and the Sword Bearer, following orders, stepped back, causing the Ancient Monarch Hunter to tumble off his blade.

In that moment, without thinking, Fang Hong’s right hand sank as he controlled the Sword Bearer to lie as flat on the ground as possible. Then he glanced at another Sword Bearer that was holding onto the BOSS.

Then, turning around, he lunged forward, covering his head with both hands.

Not far away, arriving just in time, Miss Sophie was slightly startled by this action, and as she suddenly looked up, she saw a flash that seemed like the dawn of the world surge from the darkness of the Underground World, filling her entire vision—

A few minutes later—

Only then did the Silver Weslan Princess stride out from a Resurrection Point dozens of miles from Saint Peru Valley, her face ashen with anger.

She stopped quietly for a moment, as if pondering what exactly she had done wrong. Then she looked up at the Holy Icon of Goddess Roman, who was statuesque and solemn, with a scale in front of her bearing weights of justice on one side and the corresponding wealth on the other.

Below her feet were the teachings of the Goddess:

’Justice and Wealth—’

Sophie clenched the sword in her hand tightly, silent for quite some time, and after a while, she felt her Communication Crystal vibrate slightly. Then a message popped up from a private channel:

”That, Miss Sophie, I’m sorry... I, I truly didn’t know you were nearby; could you please explain the situation to your people...”

The sender’s status was anonymous, but Miss Sophie’s eyebrows twitched, instantly recognizing who it was from.

Of course, the very culprit who was responsible for her being here.

”So, how did you know my communication ID?” she asked coolly.

”That, they told me,” Fang Hong said, looking at the Long Halberd resting against his neck and the cold, mountain girl who was about to weep, ”Miss Sophie, I really didn’t do it on purpose!”

Could he be blamed? Without that move, he couldn’t have taken down that BOSS. After all, he was only level eight, wasn’t he? That was a level twenty-something, insanely ferocious Lord of the Cold Forest, Lord of the Crows, and him? He was just a child! Of course, what was more important— he hadn’t even touched the BOSS’s corpse yet!

While the Silver Weslan party surrounded Fang Hong in the Underground World.

Aboard one of the regular ships at the Gate of Storm, a famous sea area of the Second World that leads to the First World, inside the third-level cabin, Zhang Yu was sitting at the desk opening an email sent to him by his subordinates—

Zhang Yu, Chinese, male, twenty-eight years old.

Zhang Yu was a professional Headhunter, but his hunting ground was a bit special--his job was to recommend talented and potential Invokers to the top Guilds. In the Stargate Era, people jokingly referred to his kind as vultures. Indeed, like a vulture, he hovered around various events, searching for suitable prey.

This job kept him busy all year round except for the pitiful few days of vacation. The Super Competitive League organized over a hundred events annually, with more than ten major biannual and annual tournaments, aside from the niche championships that demanded attention.

Outside the Super Competitive League, famous events organized by the Natives have also been increasingly favored, with many geniuses emerging in recent years. Even in the single-class tournaments, which many ordinary people found unengaging, he had to pay attention because that’s what the Grand Guilds and clubs needed.

With such a packed competition schedule, even if he traveled non-stop between Eteliria and various places in the Second World, it was hard not to miss any events. Thankfully, like most Top Headhunters, he had a team to support him. Staff members would typically send recordings of missed matches to his mailbox. While he could delegate analysis of some minor competitions to others, Zhang Yu didn’t fully trust his subordinates and preferred to do things himself.

This work brought him pain and pleasure, allowing him, not yet thirty, to become the exclusive Headhunter for Elite, one of the top-tier Guilds in China. After all, this wasn’t the initial years when the Stargate Era began and the professional circle was still maturing. Nowadays, the industry was much more specialized than before, especially since he wasn’t a retired top-tier Invoker.

With the end of the Earth students’ summer vacation, the Super Competitive’s latter half of the season began, making the competitions gradually denser, just like before, meaning his work would become busier. During this time, his work resembled that of a data analyst for the various Guilds, with most of his time buried in video analysis, aside from attending one or two important events in person as scheduled.

Whilst thrilling matches each had their highlights, some niche small-scale events were quite monotonous, making viewers’ eyelids heavy. Zhang Yu was gifted in being able to yawningly yet attentively record match processes, occasionally gulping down coffee—hm, this coffee from the Osh Empire was bitter enough to bite one’s tongue off, but at least it was invigorating.

Zhang Yu gently set down his cup, stretching his tired limbs, finally having finished watching the last segment of the match video, which was boring to a frightening degree. It seemed as if influenced by China’s top-tier Invoker circle, this year’s entire China Competition Region had a more ponderous style. After the BBK League’s main Guilds achieved good results with their conservative approach, they inspired many imitators, which quickly became a trend.