Then Money Body asked Loki with a hint of curiosity in his voice, saying, "Tell me? What is the reason for your bravery? What is your source of confidence?"
Loki thought about the question seriously before smiling and saying, "To be honest, I am not confident about anything."
He thought that he was being honest, but Money Body didn’t believe it. The money cultivator shook his head and said, "You’re lying to me. You are definitely sure about something."
"You are either brave because you’re foolish and don’t know what you’ve gotten into, or your bravery comes from a solid foundation that you can rely on. Either way, I am too busy to test you and determine which is which. This is the only reason I have decided not to kill you."
Then he tapped his fingers made of precious metals and gems together as he said, "As long as you die during this mission, you will never have any dealings with me again. But if you survive, then we shall surely meet again, and it won’t be a pleasant meeting."
Without waiting for Loki to say anything to refute him, he shifted his attention to everyone in the room and said, "Let’s introduce ourselves. I will go first."
"I am Money Body. I am the leader of the Thorn House of Commerce. I like to kill those who have crossed me for fun."
He was staring at Loki intently when he said that last sentence. So everyone was clear about what he meant, including Loki.
When Loki saw Money Body’s Behavior and heard what the rank 8 money cultivator said to him, he chuckled inwardly and said to himself, ’Maybe Money Cultivator was right. I am indeed certain of something. I am certain that it is a better idea for him to kill me after the mission has ended, when he doesn’t need to pay the sect any fines for killing a mission partner.’
While he was thinking to himself, the others were introducing themselves.
Nether Flame simply said, "Nether Flame."
The ant woman said, "I am Ant Hill."
With her done, Money Body said, "Now that introductions are done and everyone is here, let’s go."
After speaking, Money Body stood up from his seat and flew out of the room. He looked to be in a hurry to get the mission started.
Nether Flame followed him immediately. Apparently, he, too, was anxious for this mission.
Ant Hill also began to move. But she didn’t seem to be in a hurry because as she passed Loki, she said to him, "You are strong, but I don’t think it is a good idea to continue on this mission. I think you should quit now when the fine is still low. If you wait until the mission officially starts, you will have to pay a harsher price to quit."
"I am saying this because I care about the success of this mission and don’t want your conflict with the strongest member of our team to sabotage the mission. But if you think there is nothing to worry about, I guess I can only entertain myself by watching you make a fool out of yourself."
With that said, she laughed. Then she flew out of the room and went after the other two.
Loki watched her go and didn’t say anything in response to what she said. He only shook his head and said to himself, ’It seems she still thinks I am the burden here. I wonder what she will think when she dies first.’
This thought made him chuckle inwardly. As he chuckled, he finally flew after his mission partners to catch up to them.
The four of them went to retrieve the items they would need for the mission. The sect gave them two items for the mission. The first one was the shield breaker. The second one was the outpost core.
These two items were so important that the sect gave each of them multiple copies of both items. They only need one copy of the two items to successfully complete the mission. But the sect gave them four copies just in case of a severe emergency so that they would have many chances to bounce back from failure or accidents.
After they got the four mission items, they left the small world and went to the outer rings. From there, they boarded a tubular void ship that would take them to Oceania.
This small world was picked as the meeting point for their mission mainly because it was a secure world under the control of the sect that was closest to Oceania. With the small world being so close, it might be possible for them to receive reinforcements on the mission.
The possibility of reinforcement was slim, though. This was because reinforcement wasn’t a matter of proximity. There had to be other divine beings willing to risk their lives to reinforce them.
Because of their configuration, if they fall into trouble and need reinforcements, they will need someone on par with Money Body or even stronger than Money Body to save them, or the reinforcement would be useless.
With how rare rank 8 cultivators are, there are at most five rank 8 cultivators in the Four Directions Sect. If even Money Body, a strong leader of an alliance, is in danger, then it is unlikely that any of the remaining four rank 8 cultivators would be willing to take the risk.
So reinforcement was out of the question for them. The only benefit that they could enjoy from the proximity of the meeting point to the mission site was that they would be able to reach Oceania soon.
The four of them boarded the void ship one after the other. Loki was still the last. This was because Ant Hill believed that she was stronger than he.
He found her behavior amusing, so he decided to treat her like the child she was behaving like by not arguing with her to put her in her place. He decided to let her jump around until she got tired of horsing around.