Universe Infinite Canteen

The rewards for the "Collection Task" seemed more generous. Just by finding 4 meteorite fragments, the base reward was 100,000 Holy Silver Coins and 1,200 Atonement Points, and for each additional fragment, one could get another 20,000 Holy Silver Coins and 300 Atonement Points.

So Ma Lu decided to accept the "Cleaning Task".

Mainly because the cleaning task was more flexible, although the reward for each energized plant wasn't much, but compared to the fixed number of meteorites, the cleaning task had a higher limit. As long as he could increase the total quantity, the final reward wouldn't be too shabby.

Moreover, he had the Chessboard Map, a Divine Artifact, which clearly showed the number of enemies in the nearby area, their types, and their locations, making the execution of the cleaning tasks equivalent to adding wings to a tiger.

After selecting his task, Ma Lu went to the Witch's Home to gather his three witches.

Upon seeing him, Yun Que anxiously exclaimed, "What should we do, Sir Knight? I've lost my small pistol!"

"Where did you get that gun from?" Ma Lu asked curiously.

"Before meeting a knight, a witch's equipment is issued by the school. The school often organizes many competitions, and these items are the prizes."

The Hellhound placed her hands behind her head and said, "My Red Dog Tooth and Brute Force Arm were won in competitions; they were the first and third place rewards. The Bliss Bird's Resurrection Book too, hmm, I think it was the sixth place, but there were more witches competing in her contest, over half."

Ma Lu then turned to Yun Que, "What about you?"

Yun Que scratched her head, looking a bit embarrassed, "I don't like competing against others, so I've only participated in three small-scale competitions with less than 30 people. But in such cases, you need to be in the top eight to get a prize.

"Once I was incredibly lucky and got eighth place, earning the Eyes of the Precision Star, but I haven't won any other equipment since. Eventually, a teacher from the school, seeing I still had no weapon, gave me a training gun."

"I see. Your gun has been sold by me. Use this one instead," Ma Lu said as he tossed the Chameleon Double-Barrel Shotgun to her.

Yun Que instinctively caught the shotgun, and it took her a while to react before she exclaimed, "Is this a new weapon, for me?!"

"Yep."

Yun Que looked at the Hellhound and Bliss Bird beside her, and seeing that they showed no signs of dissatisfaction, she happily began caressing the gun in her arms, "This must've been expensive."

"It's alright, just a bit cheaper than your small pistol."

"Hahaha, Sir Knight, I didn't expect you to have such a sense of humor. I don't know much about other equipment, but I know a bit about guns; this shotgun is clearly the latest model produced by the Weaponry Department, much stronger than my old-fashioned pistol."

"As long as you like it."

Ma Lu glanced at Yun Que's attributes again and noticed that her Attack Power had gone from 5 to 8, making her barely qualified as a decent support attacker.

The four of them arrived at the "stables" and found the warhorse parked there. On the way to the Northern Forest, Ma Lu took the opportunity to learn how to operate the flyer from the Hellhound.

By the time they reached the mission location, he had become quite proficient at flying, though his takeoffs and landings were still a bit off.

Especially when landing, several trees were snapped, causing Yun Que to scream, while the Bliss Bird's big book wasn't held steady and flew out, hitting the front windshield.

But the one who had it worst was the Hellhound because she didn't like being restrained by seatbelts; as a result, she was thrown directly onto Ma Lu's face.

She ended up straddling Ma Lu's helmet.

"How did you fly this thing!" the purple-haired girl accused.

"Didn't you tell me to just press the green button? I confirmed it again with you before I did!"

"Then you tell me whether you landed smoothly or not!"

"You call this smooth?!"

"All four of us are still alive, how is that not smooth? Can you stop being such a worrywart for a big man?"

The Hellhound opened the car door with his right foot, flipped out, and landed directly onto the ground, taking a deep breath of the fresh air from the forest. Then, he simply took off his shoes and stood barefoot on the grassland, contentedly saying. Find exclusive stories on empire

"Ah, it's so boring in the city, the outdoors are much better. I'm starting to think living outside isn't too bad."

"Without the protection of Holy Temple City, neither humans nor witches can survive in the wilderness for long," Bliss Bird commented lightly.

"Eh? Really? You've never lived in the wilderness for a long time, how do you know it's not feasible?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Because that's what's written in the books."

"Not everything written in books is necessarily true."

"Indeed, words may not always be true, but they're at least more reliable than your wild guesses," Bliss Bird countered.

Ma Lu clapped his hands, "Alright, enough chitchat, time to get to work."

He had already unfolded the Chessboard Map, with four small blue dots in the center. Apart from those, there were many red dots scattered across different squares.

The closest red dot to the four was less than 30 squares away and was still moving closer.

It was probably attracted by the vibrations of the landing aircraft.

Ma Lu eyed the moving speed of the other side and unlocked the weapon authorization for the three witches.

He casually pointed toward a large tree, "There, the first enemy will arrive in about 15 seconds. Yun Que, switch the shotgun to earth attribute attack mode."

"Roger that!" Yun Que, already well-coordinated with Ma Lu, immediately knelt on one knee, lifting the Chameleon Double-Barrel Shotgun to his chest.

"Bliss Bird," Ma Lu paused, "attack at will. The enemy coming this time isn't strong. Let's not use any skills for now and save our magic power."

"Understood." Bliss Bird nodded as well, putting away the book and pulling out the magic wand from her bosom.

"What about me?" the purple-haired girl clamored.

"You can just watch from the side for now."

"Huh?"

"The enemy that's coming happens to have attributes that counter yours; you won't be able to inflict much damage. Plus, if you get hit by accident, that would be a huge loss for us."

"I'm not that fragile, and without a melee class to block, the enemy will quickly reach Yun Que and Bliss Bird," the Hellhound protested.

And just as she was speaking, the 15 seconds had elapsed, and from behind the large tree Ma Lu had indicated before bounded out a water radish.

Unlike the ordinary water radishes Ma Lu had seen, this one, named Sprinting Water Radish—an Energized Plant—had its bottom part split into two legs that were thinner at the bottom and thicker on top, while its upper half evolved to have arms like a human's.

A large bunch of radish leaves sat atop its head, and its running style looked devilishly funny.

However, it was indeed fast. A 30-square distance translates to a straight line length of about 120 meters, which it covered in 15 seconds. Although it wasn't as fast as a professional athlete, it was much quicker than an average person.