From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

Chapter 423 Return! Skill Slot Rewards Return
As the countdown to their return ended, Lu Heng and the other three reached out their hands, stacked them together, and their bodies simultaneously vanished from the spot.

Ke Yiming, who disappeared along with them, is still in prison.

As with previous returns, there was initially a blindingly bright light, so bright it was impossible to open one's eyes, followed by a long period of darkness.

The message that the Abyss Battlefield had ended began to appear before my eyes.

[The Abyss Battle has ended; return to the main world...]

[Completed Main Quest 1: Investigate the Abyss Lord who descended upon the continent of Quel'dorei. Gained 350 Divine Energy.]

[Completed Main Quest 2: Evade the Abyss Conquerors. Gained 350 Divine Energy.]

[Completed Main Quest 3: Survive for 30 days on the continent of Quel'dorei. Gained 350 Divine Energy.]

[Completed Challenge 1: Defeat 10 Abyss Conquerors. Gain 1050 Divine Energy.]

[Complete Challenge 2: Locate and remove the source of the abyss's pollution. Gain 1050 Divine Energy.]

[Complete Challenge 3: Ally with the Elves to thwart the Abyss Demon King's plot. Gain 1050 Divine Energy.]

All main quests and challenge quests were completed, earning a total of 4200 points of divine energy.

Before the start of this Abyss Battlefield, I used up some divine energy to teleport to the Elf World in advance. I killed the Skeleton Lord and gained 10000 points. Combined with the remaining divine energy, the total amount of divine energy reached 15200 points.

Complete the world quest: Destroy the Skeleton Lord Leoric.

[World Quest Reward: Choose one of the following three rewards.]

[1. Consuming 6000 points of divine energy, a secondary spatial anchor point is established. This allows the user to return to the Quel'dorei world carrying up to 100 kg of material, also consuming divine energy.]

[2. Consumes 1200 points of Divine Energy to add one skill slot.]

[3. Consume divine energy to upgrade a skill to full proficiency. The amount of divine energy consumed varies depending on the skill level.]

Upon seeing the rewards for the world quest, Lu Heng fell into deep thought.

In fact, even before seeing the world mission rewards, Lu Heng knew there would be a reward like a level 2 spatial anchor point.

I only learned this secret about the secondary space anchor point in my previous life, right before my rebirth.

After all, the rewards for level two space anchor points are too difficult to obtain, so very few people know this secret, and the relevant information was released even later.

In fact, spatial anchors are a regular reward for world missions. As long as you complete a world mission, the first reward is almost always a spatial anchor.

As for secondary spatial anchors, they will only appear after a primary spatial anchor is obtained.

In other words, this reward option is an upgrade option for the first-level spatial anchor point.

The secondary space anchor point is very powerful, capable of carrying 100kg of matter into the target world.

There's a hidden message here: living things are also matter.

In other words, with a secondary spatial anchor point, you can bring people along to teleport into the target world.

Lu Heng had promised Master Gulu that he would find an opportunity to help him reunite with his people in the future.

There are several ways to fulfill this promise, but none of them are easy to do.

One type is the secondary spatial anchor point.

Of course, you need a level 2 spatial anchor point in the Dragon's Rest World or the Lava Plains.

Lu Heng's previous idea was that if he had the opportunity to be recruited a second time into the Dragon's Rest World or the Lava Plains, he would try his best to complete the world mission and obtain a level 2 spatial anchor point.

That way, Master Gollum and the Dark Iron Dwarf tribe can be reunited.

Of course, this reunion is time-limited.

When Lu Heng returns to the main world, the people and things he brought with him will also return.

In general, secondary space anchor points have infinite possibilities.

If the second reward option hadn't appeared, Lu Heng would have directly chosen the level 2 space anchor point, but this time he was too lucky, and the reward option of increasing skill slots appeared again.

World mission rewards are one of the main ways to increase skill slots, but the difficulty of completing world missions is too high, and very few ability users can actually increase their skill slots through this method.

Moreover, the more skill slots you have, the greater the reward value of increasing the number of skill slots.

Lu Heng now has six skill slots, two fewer than Su Muyu.

Six skill slots are not few in the top tier, but they are not unique either.

According to the Great Xia military's database, the number of humans with seven skill slots has now exceeded double digits.

As time goes on, the number of people with seven skill slots will increase.

Now that we've encountered an opportunity to increase our skill slots, if we don't seize it, it means we'll be forever missing a skill.

If it's a secondary spatial anchor point in the Dragon's Rest World, then it's an option to help Master Gulu fulfill his wish.

Improving combat strength should be the priority now.

As the Abyss Invasion progresses into its later stages, the level of the Abyss Battlefields that appear will become increasingly higher.

The Abyss Battlefield has now seen a demigod-level Abyss Demon King. If we don't speed up our efforts to improve our combat power, we may not be able to keep up with the pace of level progression in the Abyss Battlefield.

After weighing the pros and cons, Lu Heng ultimately chose the second reward: increasing his skill slots.

After selecting the world quest reward, I glanced at the attribute panel.

[Name: Lu Heng]

[Level: Level 48]

[Qi and Blood: 1420/1500]

[Source energy: 1250/1550]

【属性：力量150、敏捷194、体质150、精神155、感知150】

[Talents: Agile as a Dragon, Divine Evolution, Demon Hunter, Godslayer - Demigod]

[Combat Class: Blade of Judgment (Fourth Job Advancement)]

[Source Abilities: Shadow Walk, Rift Slash, Void Flash, Divine Judgment, Evil Judgment]

Number of skill slots: 7

[Skills: Thunder Field, Divine Avatar, Wind God Step, Time Freeze, Damage Reversal, Mental Domination]

Martial Arts: Swordsmanship (Mastery Level), Combat (Subtlety Level), Movement Technique (Mastery Level)

[Martial Arts: Wind Dragon's Breath Slash LV3, Soaring Dragon's Sky Hunt LV1, Spatial Combo Slash - Modified LV1]

……

As the message feed stopped, my view gradually returned to normal.

When Lu Heng opened his eyes, he was back in the training room of Qionghua Tianluhu Community, with Su Muyu and the other two beside him.

I just got back when my phone vibrated.

Lu Heng took out his phone and saw more than a dozen messages that had been sent a few days ago but were only being received now, along with a phone call coming in.

The call connected, and Jian Qing's voice came through the phone: "Have you returned?" Actually, this was a rhetorical question. The war zone had already sent people to guard the Qionghua Tianluhu residential area, and the news would be sent back as soon as Lu Heng and the other three returned.

Su Muyu immediately noticed that someone was using a perception skill to scan the area. Similar situations had occurred before, so it wasn't strange.

Lu Heng asked directly, "Now you know Ke Yiming's identity, right?"

Jian Qing answered with certainty, "It's confirmed. Is it arrest or execution?"

"Catch him, but let him escape." Lu Heng gave her a very unexpected answer.

Although Jian Qing didn't understand the reason, she knew that this request must have some purpose, so she immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll call you back after I'm done."

Before I hung up the phone, I heard gunshots coming from the phone.

……

A gunfight broke out at a Levi mercenary group base 15 kilometers away.

Half a minute ago, Ke Yiming had just returned and immediately went to the bedside, lifted a corner of the curtain, and checked the situation outside.

He is not a perceiver; the perceiver in his team was killed by him just minutes ago, so he can only observe the environment with his naked eyes now.

Before returning, he was already mentally prepared, knowing that he was surrounded, but he didn't know what would happen.

He didn't react until a sniper bullet pierced the window and grazed past his eyes. He jumped out of the window immediately, dodging and weaving through the hail of bullets. He was shot twice before breaking out of the encirclement and hiding in the night.

He was shot in the thigh and left shoulder, and the bullets were embedded in the bone.

He took out some hemostatic medicine and applied it to the wound, which barely stopped the bleeding, but the bullet needed to be removed as soon as possible.

After escaping the encirclement, he took out a spare satellite phone and dialed a number.

This number is the emergency contact channel of the Creator's organization.

The call was answered after three rings, but no one spoke on the other end.

Ke Yiming spoke very quickly: "I am 025. We were defeated in the Abyss Battlefield. Apart from me, the other four trash are dead. I am being chased and shot. I need rescue."

There was still no one speaking on the other end of the phone; the call was simply disconnected.

Despite his injuries, Ke Yiming continued forward into the darkness.

Three minutes later, the phone received a text message.

The text message contained only the number "1".

The number "1" represents the first evacuation route, which is actually just an address.

This address is known only to members of the Creator Organization, and the information will not be leaked even if the text message is intercepted.

Ke Yiming arrived at the address represented by the number "1", then got into a car and was taken to a private hospital.

During the bullet removal surgery, a black raven flew into the operating room, transforming into 013, its entire body covered in black feathers and wearing a hood.

013 asked in a hoarse voice, "What happened?"

Ke Yiming was worried that the organization would suddenly kill him, so he didn't take any anesthetic when removing the bullet. His cheeks twitched in pain, and he was covered in sweat.

He said, panting, "We lost the Abyss Battlefield. Our opponents were 028 and the defector 027. They joined forces."

013 narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Who is 027?"

Ke Yiming gripped the armrests of the operating table tightly with both hands, panting and angrily saying, "Can't you let me finish the surgery first?"

013 replied in an icy voice, "You'd better answer my question. This failure resulted in the loss of four members, including your captain. Someone has to take responsibility for this. You'd better be nicer to me."

Ke Yiming angrily slammed his fist on the operating table, cursing, "It's all because of those four good-for-nothings. They're no match for Lu Heng at all. Let alone those four good-for-nothings, even that arrogant demigod was taken down by Lu Heng."

"Who is 027? Is he thanking his teacher?" 013 asked again.

Xie Shi'en appeared by Lu Heng's side many times, clearly having joined the team, and naturally came into the sight of the Creator Organization, but no evidence was found that he was 027.

Ke Yiming confirmed, "That's right, it's him!"

013 fell silent, neither asking questions nor speaking.

After a moment, he continued to ask, "How did the other four people die? Describe the process in detail."

At this point in the conversation, the shrapnel had been removed, the doctor used a stapler to sew up the wound, and the nurse began bandaging it.

Ke Yiming pushed the nurse away and said, "Don't wrap it up."

Then he grabbed a bottle of medicine and poured it onto the wound.

Superhumans have much stronger recovery abilities than ordinary people; once a wound scabs over, it doesn't matter if it's not bandaged.

Moreover, exposing the wound to air helps it heal faster.

After pouring out the potion, he grabbed his clothes and put them on. He ran his hand through his hair and said, "The Pharaoh died in Xiling City. I stole the statues of the Three Commanders from the elves and broke the seal on Xiling City, which alerted the elves..."

He began to recount what happened in the Abyss Battlefield, explaining how his four teammates had died in battle.

Of course, he hid some details.

For example, when he mentioned the statues of the three commanders, he said that he stole them from the city of Kolos.

He did try to steal it, but failed. In the end, it was Lu Heng who devised a plan to lure the four raiders to Xiling City using the statues of the three commanders.

He omitted the details of the process, only saying that after stealing the statues of the three commanders, the Pharaoh wanted to take the dragon's tooth from the seal and also wanted to trade the remains of the elven swordsman Santos with the Skeleton Lord, which is why he went to Xiling City.

The things he described were mostly true; he just omitted the parts that were unfavorable to him.

Moreover, the deaths of Pharaoh, Dark Star, and Redbeard had nothing to do with him, so he could tell the truth without being suspected.

Because Lu Heng personally killed the Pharaoh, while Dark Star entered the underground seal of Xiling City to obtain the Dragon's Fang, but died when he fell out of the seal.

The reason Dark Star died was quite simple: the Sword Saint Santos, one of the three commanders of the Elven race, was not completely controlled by the Skeleton Lord and still retained a little of his will.

Moreover, the Skeleton Lord had not ordered him not to kill Dark Star, so Santos casually eliminated Dark Star as well.

Redbeard also died in Xiling City, which had nothing to do with him.

The only connection between him and the death of the Blue-blooded man was that he killed him with his own hands.

However, he couldn't say for sure about the death of the Blue-blooded man.

According to his account, he escaped from Xiling City with the power bestowed upon him by the Skeleton Lord, while the Blueblood was captured by the elves and eventually died in the dungeon.

His final description was: "The Blueblood should be dead in the dungeon. I didn't see him in the final battle. After the Skeleton Lord was defeated, I fled and hid in the wilderness for two days before returning."

After listening to the whole story, Black Crow made no comment, took out a piece of paper and handed it over, saying, "Go to the address on this page. It's safe there. Someone will come to find you in a while."

After saying this, he spread his wings, transformed into a black raven, flew out the window, and disappeared into the night.

Ke Yiming glanced at the address on the note, then set it ablaze and burned it. He then covered his forehead with both hands and began to review what he had just told 013.

He reviewed every detail, checking for any loopholes.

He is now standing on the edge of a cliff; one wrong step and he will die.

(End of this chapter)