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"Everyone, the sun's up! Time to get out of bed! We have a mission personally assigned by the Wizard King today!"
Early morning sunlight streamed into the Aqua Deer Squad's base, casting fragmented golden light everywhere, as the energetic Captain Rill enthusiastically knocked on every squad member's door.
"What is it, Captain? It's still early, isn't it? Anyone can go on a mission…"
"Sorry, I'm going back to sleep."
"Captain Rill, please don't knock on a girl's door so early in the morning. It's very impolite."
"…"
After knocking on all the doors, Rill stood in the empty corridor, listening to the chorus of complaints and pursing his lips: "Oh dear, you're all so lazy! That won't do!"
His colorful grimoire flew out from his satchel, and a paintbrush and palette floated in the air. Rill lightly gripped the paintbrush, sweeping it across a brilliant blue, "Painting Magic: Spiders and Snakes of the Ice Field!"
Under the brush's strokes, numerous blue spiders and strange snakes landed in the corridor, scurrying into the tightly shut rooms. Trails of frost formed beneath their moving bodies.
A commotion erupted from the rooms where the complaints had originated. Moments later, a bronze wolf burst through a door, carrying an ice spider in its mouth. Sesk emerged from his room, his hair a bird's nest, "Captain Rill, can you please not do this every time? These things are really cold!"
The other rooms also opened. Bai En slowly walked out, holding an ice snake in his hand. As he reached the doorway, the ice snake naturally dissipated, and a blast of cold air hit him, significantly reducing his drowsiness.
Yesterday, because he was celebrating Jie Kai's daughter's birthday, he and Nancy returned to the Aqua Deer Squad's base very late. He estimated he had only slept for two or three hours.
He hadn't been asleep long before being woken by the cold, and the culprit behind it all was still sleeping soundly in his warm bed at home, embracing his wife and daughter. Bai En's mood was quite low. 'I just hope this assigned mission doesn't fall to me. I want to catch up on sleep, then go to Moli Restaurant in the afternoon to continue grinding magic.'
The cold air made Bai En sneeze. Rubbing his nose, he suddenly had a bad feeling.
After a quick wash, everyone from the Aqua Deer Squad gathered at the dining table for breakfast. Rill, who had woken everyone up, dragged a wooden board from somewhere. He flipped it over, revealing many golden stars affixed to it.
"What are those?" Nancy, seeing them for the first time, clearly didn't know what they were. She sipped her hot milk from a silver porcelain cup, looking much better than Bai En.
Bai En, next to her, was nodding off, mumbling words that those around him couldn't quite understand: "Why do other transmigrators live happy, leisurely lives, while I'm still working like an ox?"
"Initially, it was just simple internal competition, but now not only is there more work, but even my sleep is being stolen? Damn it, I'm going to collapse…"
Gu Sen and Fragil nearby simply thought Bai En was still half-asleep and delirious. They had also returned from a mission yesterday, clearing out a group of malicious bandits near the border of the Royal Capital and the Common Realm. The mission itself wasn't difficult.
Gu Sen enthusiastically explained, "Stars are indicators of the Magic Knights' achievements. They are awarded when the Wizard King recognizes an achievement."
"Depending on the achievement, multiple 'Stars' can be awarded at once. If the damage caused is greater than the achievement, a 'Black Star' representing a negative value will be received."
"In simple terms, the number of Stars largely determines the bonus and treatment of squad members. For the same mission, Magic Knights with more Stars will receive more rewards and bonuses."
"Although I want to argue, he's not wrong," Fragil, wearing a fluffy hat and with a doll-like face, added. "Of course, bonuses are one aspect. A Magic Knights' Stars also relate to the ranking of its members."
"It's worth mentioning that our squad currently has 47 Stars, ranking third from the bottom among all Magic Knights."
"Huh? Isn't that pretty bad?"
"Exactly." Fragil nodded in agreement, taking a small bite of the bread in her hand. "If this continues, our squad might end up at the very bottom."
"Fragil, don't belittle our squad too much. No matter what, we can't possibly be at the bottom, can we? After all, there's the Black Bulls, known as the disgrace of the Magic Knights, and they have a whopping negative 50 Stars!" Sesk, across the table, offered a different opinion.
"Negative 50 Stars? Such a thing exists?" Nancy was greatly puzzled.
"What can you do? Their Captain, Yami Sukehiro, the God of Destruction, is an awful character, and all the members he recruits are eccentric. This often leads to them causing more damage than good during missions."
Upon hearing 'Black Bulls,' Bai En fought off his drowsiness and perked up. Listening to their disparaging comments, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
"Alright, everyone, please direct your attention to your Captain!" Rill waved his hand and spoke, pulling a golden star, identical to those on the board, from his pocket. "Ta-da! Congratulations, our squad has gained another Star!"
"Excellent! Who do you think earned this Star?"
Before anyone could answer, Rill placed the Star on the board, and the golden Star naturally settled into an indentation. He enthusiastically answered his own question: "That's right! It was earned by our two new members and Jie Kai!"
"Everyone, applaud!"
"Huh? Jie Kai can also earn a Star? Did he just get lucky?"
"I agree. Fragil and I diligently completed the bandit mission, but we didn't get a Star." Gu Sen asked Bai En and Nancy, "What did you two do on your first mission? The criteria for Stars aren't low."
"It was quite a troublesome one…" Nancy recalled the rat swarm in the mine and Ladis and his two companions.
Bai En answered succinctly: "Good luck."
"Why don't I have that kind of luck? How strange?"
"Is information transmitted that quickly? I remember we only completed the mission yesterday. Are there commendations today already?" Bai En questioned. He recalled that the Magic Knights and the Wizard King were quite busy.
Especially the Wizard King; while handling national affairs, he also roamed the streets looking for new and interesting magic. The awarding of Stars had to go through him, so how could there be commendations so quickly?
Could it be that he, like Yuno and Asta, was being closely watched? That shouldn't be the case. He remembered he had tried his best to avoid encountering old grandmothers and bar owners on the road. The Wizard King shouldn't have heard of him yet.
Appearing in the Wizard King's sights so quickly was not a good thing.
After all, with two souls in one body, he was the biggest villainous BOSS behind the scenes. The less information about him entered the Wizard King's sight, the more confident he would be in the final battle.
Even Lucifero Zogratis, the host of the Time Devil, shouldn't be able to see his future self… First, because of the Anti-Magic's coverage and appearance, and second… because he himself was an unexpected bug in this timeline, and the magic he used did not belong to this world…