The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

Two big bags of materials aren’t so easy to sort.

Even with Benovia helping out.

Later, Doris and the other two found out and came over to help as well.

Even so, it was around nine o’clock by the time everything was sorted.

Looking at the room filled with magical materials, Hilia wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Finally, it’s done."

Doris looked at all the materials on the floor, puzzled. "Now that everything’s sorted, aren’t you going to put them all back later?"

Hilia shook her head. "Nope, I’m going to refine and fuse all these materials right away."

Phil reminded her, "Hilia, it’s already late. We’re leaving for the Golden Apple Stone Forest tomorrow morning."

Hilia smiled slightly. "It’ll be quick. Sorting is just to make things easier for me."

Hilia took out a small bottle of Golden Heart from her backpack. Before Tier Four, Golden Heart is very useful; after Tier Four, Golden Heart is still a primary ingredient for crafting.

Just about to pour it out, Hilia looked at the others in the room, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Could you all step outside for a bit? I don’t want my refining process to affect you guys."

"Sure." Benovia got up and walked out.

The others followed. Doris, who was last to leave, turned back to ask, "How long?"

Because there were too many people, it wasn’t possible for each room to be single occupancy. Apart from mentors, students stayed in multi-person rooms.

Given the five-person team exploration standard, lots of inns offered cheap six-person rooms — each with three bunk beds, perfect for cost-saving Mercenary Corps.

Compared to single and double rooms, these multi-person rooms made up the majority.

The school booked the whole inn, so naturally wouldn’t waste those rooms. When choosing, Hilia opted to bunk with Benovia and the others for one night.

But her Mage’s Hand refining process is pretty outrageous, so she figured it was best to have everyone wait outside for a bit.

"An hour at most. Thanks!"

Hilia waved her hand. After everyone left and the door was shut, she poured out the Golden Heart. Mage’s Hand suspended the Golden Heart in mid-air, slowly splitting it into ten or so portions.

At the same time, the other materials were wrapped with Spiritual Power threads formed by Mage’s Hand. Lifted into the air, bundled into ten or so groups according to category.

Exactly matching the portions of Golden Heart.

Under Hilia’s control, the golden liquid immersed itself into each pile of materials, wrapping them up.

Flames ignited under each set of materials.

She’d done this many times already, so Hilia refined everything with practiced ease.

Compared to the exhaustion she felt at First and Second Tier back then, now she was completely calm — skillfully controlling the Spiritual Power threads, steadily drawing out the essence of the materials, then blending them together in proper proportions.

She also went through heating, cooling, and so on, needing to reach certain exact temperatures, all easily managed.

Finally, a basketball-sized blue liquid floated in front of her.

Hilia took out an Alchemy Bottle and packed all the liquid away.

"Universal Scroll Ink, top quality — increases success rate of making Tier Three scrolls, but can’t be used for Tier Four or higher. There’s enough here to make at least two thousand scrolls. More than enough."

Hilia stashed all the bottles, then looked at the pile of leftover material debris on the floor and quickly grabbed her Flying Broom to clean up.

Why not buy a new flying device now that she’s rich?

Because Flying Broom isn’t just for flying — it also sweeps the floor.

After cleaning, Hilia opened the door, let everyone back in, and handed each person a bottle of Scroll Ink.

"Not sure if any of you want to practice making scrolls, but think of this Scroll Ink as thanks for your help~!"

Benovia took the Alchemy Bottle and examined it, surprised. "Such high quality! Both the temperature control and material ratios are really precise. It’ll massively improve scroll crafting success."

As an all-rounder, Benovia naturally knew about scroll making, and her face was full of awe as she gazed at the blue liquid inside the transparent Alchemy Bottle.

"If I were doing it, I couldn’t reach this level in an hour, not even in a day."

Hilia blushed a little.

"Stop it, Benovia! If you keep complimenting me, I’ll be too embarrassed to stay here."

Doris didn’t know much about scroll crafting, so she decided to judge it in the most straightforward way: "Just tell me how much this bottle is worth, and how much yours is worth?"

Benovia replied, "This bottle’s materials are about 10 gold coins. If you sell it, you’d want at least 100 gold coins. If someone else mixed it, 10 gold coins’ materials would only make 20 gold coins’ worth of Scroll Ink. That’s already pretty good."

Doris nodded. "Got it. That makes sense."

This is the first time Hilia gave me something. I have to take good care of it! Doris thought.

...

The next day.

Ready to go.

A big crowd came out from the Divine Hall, marching off toward the outskirts of the city.

The civilians praying in the Divine Hall saw the imposing Law Enforcement Knight Order and whispered among themselves, curious about what had happened nearby to require so many knights.

Compared to the Law Enforcement Knight Order, few paid much attention to the Divine Magic Academy students who followed behind.

All the way, leaving Letes City, after several hours, Hilia followed the group to the camp outside the Golden Apple Stone Forest. They’d just been assigned rooms when Alina walked over, rounding up her and a few others to step outside.

"Ms Meilina has something to say. Listen up before doing anything else," Alina said.

They gathered in the open area at the center of the camp. Ms Meilina hovered in midair, watching people arrive one by one.

Especially the Divine Magic Academy students who were joining the operation.

Once almost everyone had gathered, she began: "This operation is extremely dangerous. This is your last chance — before departure tomorrow, you can submit an application to your mentor stating you can’t participate and return; the school won’t punish you."

Hilia thought, Of course there’s no punishment, but your trial score for the holiday drops to zero.

But a raid against the sect is far riskier than exploring ruins — especially in an area rife with pollution. If you lack experience or slip up, you could die.

Meilina continued, "The Golden Apple Stone Forest is a special landform, said to have been fought over by three goddesses for the Golden Apple. The legend can’t be confirmed, but before the Era of Calamity, it was a unique area full of Chaotic Magic Power."

"After the Era of Calamity, not only is there Chaotic Magic Power, but also persistent pollution that can’t be dispersed. These pollutants combined with Chaotic Magic Power made the Golden Apple Stone Forest into an extremely dangerous area. Remember the rules I’m about to tell you, or you’ll die in the Golden Apple Stone Forest."

Meilina looked at the students, speaking slowly:

"First — Purification Skill is strictly forbidden."

Hilia froze.

Huh?