My Salvation Game Became true?!.
Chapter 261 - 243: Shuttling Gate of the Ghastly Realm (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Chapter 261: Chapter 243: Shuttling Gate of the Ghastly Realm (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Providing international students with a second round of training had always been one of Fang You’s ideas.

Previously, the constraints were the insufficient strength of the Torchbearers and the lack of adequate facilities. Now that the conditions were gradually being met, and several countries were looking forward to it, he decided to go with the flow.

It was a win on multiple fronts: earning goodwill, collecting tuition fees, getting free labor, and enhancing the overall strength of Blue Star.

In total, it was a quintuple win.

He would benefit four times, and the various countries, once.

However, the idea was not yet perfected; he was currently working out the rules and regulations with his virtual assistant, Xiao Huan.

The perfect secretary Xiao Huan was dressed in professional work attire, sitting opposite him. Even though her form was ethereal, imperceptible to the naked eye, she could even now pick up a ballpoint pen and twirl it between her slender fingers.

She had begun to slightly interfere with reality.

With Fang You’s advancement, Xiao Huan’s spirit strength had soared to 210 points. Due to the ethereal nature of the spirit, this power was still rather intangible, like flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon reflected on the water’s surface. However, as Fang You continued to advance, perhaps one day, the ethereal spirit Xiao Huan could transform from illusion to reality and become a complete life form.

Xiao Huan lacked these meaningless thoughts; her mind was rapidly processing as she twirled the pen in her hand, collating and organizing information.

Quickly, with a tap of her fingertip, a series of student portraits popped up on the table.

"Master, these are the students who meet your requirements and can be approved for the advanced training quota~!"

The number wasn’t large; there were a total of 11 people from Sunset Country and three other countries, and 66 suitable candidates from Dong Huang.

For this first batch of pilot advanced training students, Fang You was still quite cautious, waiting to see the results.

"These people have already reached the graduate level of the Torchbearers, and the outstanding ones even exceed that by a lot. It would be a waste to arrange for them to come back for further studies as students, and also not quite appropriate," he mused.

"They could adopt a work-study approach where they can earn points through part-time jobs, and the learning could be mostly self-directed, just like many Torchbearer graduates already do."

This approach was something he believed the advanced training students from Sunset Country and others would greatly appreciate.

They were eager for more avenues to earn points.

They could get points and exchange them for study materials, while the Torchbearers would gain more working power—it was a win-win scenario.

The only problem was, what kind of part-time jobs should be arranged for these advanced training students?

"We could take cues from the semi-official students, with tasks varying from assistant teaching, garrisoning, transportation, defensive collaboration, and so on. Beyond these, I need to establish even more avenues for part-time work."

It was necessary to nurture and elevate the overall combat power of Blue Star, but at the same time, it was important not to waste the potential of outstanding Awakeners by leaving them idle.

They must be encouraged to create more value.

He needed to grasp both opportunities and squeeze every bit of potential.

But what positions suitable for the international students could allow them to shine brightly?

He pondered with his chin propped on his hand.

Suddenly, a ’ding’ notification sound rang in his ear.

’Ding!’

’Notification: Torchbearers have cumulatively ventured 333 kilometers in the Ghastly Realm, exploration level increased to Level 3, acquiring new feature ’Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate.’ For details, please check by yourself.’

—

’Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate’

’Description: Consume 1,000 Ghastly Crystals to build a Shuttling Gate in both the real world and the Ghastly Realm. These gates can be activated only when positioned at the exact same location, allowing free passage between reality and its underside.’

’Remark: Using the Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate requires both physical and spirit attributes to be greater than 10 points. It can transport individuals.’

The entry requirements for this feature were slightly different from those for secret realms, but the overall difficulty was about the same.

No matter.

There were many within the Torchbearers who met the criteria.

"The Torchbearers have already accumulated a walking distance of 333 kilometers?"

"That’s not right. If it were just a count of steps, it would far exceed this number. Just take the secret realm and the mineral veins in the Kangaroo Kingdom, which are three kilometers apart—one round trip alone is six kilometers. Ten people would make sixty kilometers, and a hundred would make six hundred kilometers."

And when An Jianyou, who was also a part-time teacher, led the team to build the beacon outpost in the mineral vein, that was more than a hundred people in one trip.

The count couldn’t be based on steps.

Before, when entering the Ghastly Realm there was only a small team, a few people, so the difference wasn’t noticeable. But now...

"The cumulative distance walked must be tallied for all of the Torchbearers, but it should only include freshly explored distances that clear the Mist, with repeated paths not counted."

It made sense.

Otherwise, he would have arranged for some people to walk circles around the beacon outposts, artificially inflating the distance explored.

- Hmm, in fact, he had already tried that.

His programmed tasks for beacon outpost defense include patrolling, completing a set number of circuits.

However, this ’exploration distance’ was a hidden figure, invisible on ordinary days, so he couldn’t put it to the test.

Shortcuts, as it turned out, didn’t exist.

Fang You pondered.

The strategic significance of the Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate was immense; it not only provided an extra entryway into the Ghastly Realm, but more importantly, he could choose the location of this entryway at will.

This was the crux of strategy!

"Currently, the only mineral vein that Torchbearers are mining is just three kilometers away from the secret realm."

"The other discovered mineral veins are hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from the secret realm."

Fang You recalled that within Shuize State’s Ghastly Realm side, there was a rich deposit of white iron ore.

This ore was universally applicable, indispensable for the manufacture of most standard weapons. Comrade Lao Wang was already complaining about the shortage of ore, having to resort to alternative materials, which resulted in higher costs and a reduced rate of top-quality products.

This highlighted the significance of white iron ore.

Without the conditions to mine veins like the white iron ore ones, even if the collective strength of the Torchbearers increased by multiple folds, it wouldn’t be enough. But now, by simply setting up a Shuttling Gate right at the location of the ore deposits, they could carry out the ’mine is just outside my doorstep’ method of mining.

...

Half a day later,

In Linshan City, Shuize State, within a high-class residential area.

The target villa, along with several nearby detached houses, were now all purchased by Torchbearers - well, by a company under the name of Torchbearers, to be precise.

The price was not steep.

Real estate, in this era, was facing a winter season. As one of the world’s trendsetters, Fang You was well aware that in a short while, most of the land and buildings in the world would need to be abandoned.

Real estate was indeed a bubble, ready to burst at a touch, but the construction industry was still promising.

Purchasing these villas wasn’t just an impulse of boredom, but rather because the coordinates of the Baitie Stone Mine were right here, within the city.

By the time he arrived, Xu Tian had already been waiting with several Torchbearer personnel.

Each stood tall and straight, like warriors awaiting inspection.

"Hello, Instructor!" "Miss An, good to see you."

"You’ve been working hard."

Fang You looked around, noticing how quiet it was. The villa was inwardly positioned, but still he said, "Now, seal the entire area."

"Yes, sir!"

Entering inside.

When the front door closed, the entire villa immediately fell into darkness as the windows had been retrofitted and sealed. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary villa, but from the inside, it was tightly secured.

This was his order.

Click— Fang You turned on the light, and the glow dispersed the darkness.

Looking at An Jianyou, who had barely enjoyed two days of holiday before being pulled back into action, he said, "The Baitie ore is nearby, isn’t it?"

"Mhm." She nodded, a faint blue glimmer flickering across her eyes.

"I’ve seen it, just over a hundred meters away. There aren’t any powerful Mysterious Evils around. The highest are just a few at Level 3."

How times change, even Level 3 is now considered a minor Mysterious Evil.

Fang You, feeling nostalgic, pulled out a palm-sized silver frame from the Heaven’s Net, a ’foundation matrix’ produced by the exploration module but not yet installed or activated.

Install!

The silver frame flew up, swelled in the breeze, transforming into a Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate that was 2.8 meters tall and 2.2 meters wide, single-sided.

Guided by his Spirit, this Shuttling Gate was firmly attached to the space in this spot.

Embed it.

With that, the installation was complete.

It still resembled a doorframe, with both sides of the frame not touching the ground but slightly hovering above. But this door could not be moved; it wasn’t anchored to the floor, but to the space.

If the entire villa were demolished and the ground upturned, this door would still be immovable.

"With this door, we can enter the Ghastly Realm? How magical!" An Jianyou examined the doorframe excitedly, her large eyes blinking in curiosity and amazement.

She even stretched out her hand to poke and shake it a bit.

Giving it a gentle push.

The girl didn’t dare exert too much force, her cautious demeanor amusing Fang You.

"This door isn’t so fragile."

It was a high-grade item worth a thousand Ghast Crystals!

He was about to say she could push it roughly, apply strength, give it some effort, but then suddenly remembered that An Jianyou was a Level 5 Awakener who had mastered her sword skills, drank various secret potions, and often trained.

She might appear gentle and frail, but she had the strength to uproot mountains, or at the very least, toss a bus around like a toy with no issue.

He quickly stopped himself and changed the subject.

"To enter the Ghastly Realm, we must still install another Shuttling Gate on the side of the Ghastly Realm. Only when the two gates are united can we traverse between reality and what lies below."

"So what are we waiting for? Let’s get started~!" An Jianyou was eager.

Centered around where she stood, the Netherworld domain swiftly expanded, enveloping both of them within it.

In an instant, the environment before their eyes changed drastically.

The brand-new villa was covered in cracks, the walls dingy and showing signs of age as if many years had weathered them.

Eerie roars of Mysterious Evils echoed all around.

This lasted for less than three seconds before everything vanished.

An Jianyou’s few Mysterious Evils had already escaped through the Netherworld domain to the outside, commencing a frenzied slaughter.

Fang You didn’t need to do anything but take out the Bright Light Torch and gently light it.

Looking outside, he could see more than a hundred meters away, where there would normally be a hill behind the neighborhood. The terrain of the hill had changed, stripped of trees and barren, with white rock fragments occasionally tumbling down.

There lay the Baitie Stone Mine.

Under normal circumstances,

installing a Shuttling Gate would require flying for thousands of miles, with countless dangers possibly encountered on the way, an unknown duration, and the risk of getting lost etc.

Extremely difficult, An Jianyou’s backdoor ability reduced the level of difficulty to mere handiwork.

Truly deserving of being a functional Angel Envoy.

No, not just functional, An Jianyou was also a Torchbearer’s leading force, a number one hard worker, a wealthy lady, collector of the Mysterious Evil compendium, and irreplacably unique with her cross-realm Ability; she was truly an all-round treasure!

Therefore,

Fang You also entrusted the installation of the Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate to An Jianyou.

Let the capable take on more responsibility.

He would simply be a quiet and peaceful Torchbearer.

Under the guidance of Spirit, the Shuttling Gate·Ghastly Realm was embedded into the same spot, click-clacking into place.

Accompanied by a command, "Activate", the Ghastly Realm Shuttling Gate vibrated with a hum, and blue light filled the hollow doorframe.

It appeared like a vortex, with streams of light particles scattering.

Fang You planted the torch into the floor, turned his head to exchange a glance with An Jianyou.

"Let’s go."

"Right."

Together, they stepped through the gate.

Suddenly, the world spun; gentle incandescent light from within the villa spilled out in front of them.