"You saved our warriors,"

"which means you’ve saved our people. To us, you are The Celestial,"

"so this bag of The Celestial’s Prayer Stones should be yours."

Lana said.

The others in the vehicle all voiced their agreement, and no one objected.

"For me?

But this stuff is so valuable."

Nina Jacobs had never seen so many Mystic Ice Cores.

This bag had at least a hundred of them.

"There are other places on our lands where Prayer Stones fall, but they’re all guarded by ferocious Aberrant Beasts,"

"so we can’t get to them."

Greg Unger said regretfully.

"The Celestial’s Prayer Stones" were no longer useful to them, so they hadn’t tried to acquire more.

Nina Jacobs finally understood. To the Bishop Clan members, Zombie Crystal Cores were more valuable than Mystic Ice Cores.

After all, the so-called "Celestial’s Prayer Stones" could only be absorbed once.

But Crystal Cores could be absorbed an infinite number of times...

That was why on this trip, they had only brought a large number of Crystal Cores, along with a small handful of the "Celestial’s Prayer Stones."

"Listen, once we get to City D Base, don’t say a word about this to anyone. Got it?"

Nina Jacobs said after a moment of deep thought.

No wonder people from every country had flocked to Drakonia in her past life, searching for Mystic Ice Cores.

The "Mystic Ice Cores" might have originated from off-world.

According to their satellites, which were still functional back then, the highest concentration of fallen Cores was in Drakonia.

’In my past life, the Bishop Clan was probably wiped out, which was why no one knew their tribe possessed such things, even five years into the apocalypse.’

’If word got out, it could bring another disaster upon the Bishop Clan...’

Lana and the others exchanged glances before turning back to Nina Jacobs.

"You’re the hero The Celestial sent to save our people. Of course we’ll listen to you."

Nina Jacobs nodded.

She accepted the bag of Mystic Ice Cores. The next second, her eyes lit up.

[Host has triggered the "Heart of Gratitude" title. Bonus Reward: Earth Attribute Weapon, Diamond Sand!]

’Heart of Gratitude’ usually just gave me System Experience Points. I never thought it would give me an Earth Attribute Weapon.’

Right after she had helped them into the vehicle, the system had also triggered the "Selfless Savior" title.

The reward matched the number of people she’d saved.

Along the way, Nina Jacobs explained the importance of the Ice Cores to them.

She also told them about the current situation at City D Base.

"There’s a special event at the base for the next few days. When you get there, focus on recovering from your injuries first.

If you want to trade for supplies, I know someone outside the base who sells them. You can trade with Crystal Cores or Gold."

Hope dawned on their faces at Nina Jacobs’ words.

"Where is that person? Can you tell us?"

Greg Unger asked immediately.

"Ahem, her name is Claire Warner."

Nina Jacobs said, referring to her alias.

Strictly speaking, there was nowhere within City D Base to purchase supplies with Crystal Cores.

The base had shops, but they only accepted base points for exchanges. Furthermore, the shops were retail and didn’t do wholesale.

So, if these people wanted to trade Crystal Cores for supplies, their only option was Claire Warner.

"That’s wonderful...

Our tribe can be saved."

The injured Shawn managed a weak smile.

The others also began murmuring after hearing this.

They were thanking The Celestial in their native tongue, grateful that he had sent Nina Jacobs to protect their tribe...

But Nina Jacobs couldn’t understand what they were saying...

「It was nearly nightfall when the group arrived at City D Base.」

The bustling crowds inside the base left them in awe.

But they hadn’t forgotten the urgent need to get their injuries treated.

Nina Jacobs took them straight to the base hospital.

"Nina? You’re finally back."

Pascal Paige was just about to leave for the day when he saw Nina Jacobs arrive with several strangers.

After Pascal made the arrangements, the injured members of the group were able to receive treatment.

This included the still-unconscious Trevor.

Nina learned that several smaller bases had arrived that day and Myra Lawson was busy playing host, so Nina decided to have Trevor and his companions stay at the house where Chase Gallagher and the others were living.

Building 72 had plenty of rooms, so a short stay of a few days wouldn’t be a problem.

She also instructed Chase Gallagher and the others to keep a low profile about the matter, telling anyone who asked that they were just friends staying over for a while.

"How did today’s matches go?"

Nina asked.

The round to narrow the field from 50 to 25 was complete.

Next was the round of 25 advancing to 13.

But because of the odd number, one of the 25 teams would get a bye.

Meaning they wouldn’t have to compete and would directly advance to the next round.

"This is the list of the 25 teams."

Chase Gallagher had it ready and proceeded to give her a detailed rundown of each remaining team.

Nina noticed that among the 25 teams, in addition to the Superpower User Alliance, there were also the two teams belonging to Caleb Carter and Hayley Spencer.

"Grython is in, too?"

Nina asked casually upon seeing the name.

"Yeah, Althea Coleman has joined Grython,

and I hear she’ll be competing in the next round."

Chase Gallagher said. ’So Althea Coleman really did find a new team already.’

’She was probably just unwilling to give up Stella’s resources before.’

’After all, Stella has Daniel Hale as a backer.’

"When’s the drawing for the matchups?"

Nina asked after getting the gist of the situation.

’She was still wondering if she could have ’Claire Warner’ go out to sell supplies tomorrow.’

’After all, Lana and her people seemed extremely anxious.’

But to everyone’s surprise, during the matchup drawing early the next morning...

Stella turned out to be the lucky team that drew a bye.

"So does that mean... we get to advance directly?!"

Leo Hale asked in disbelief, taking the lottery ticket from Nina Jacobs’s hand.

"Looks like it."

Nina glanced at the token in her hand. On it was a single, large word: "BYE."

The other teams all looked on with envy.

At the drawing, Nina also saw Caleb Carter and Fern Spencer.

However, she simply walked past them as if they were strangers.

"Why did *she* have to be the one to get the bye?"

Althea Coleman muttered, staring at the token in her hand.

Her token was number 5, and her opponent was Soul Slayer.

The expressions on the faces of everyone from Grython turned grim.

Caleb Carter of Soul Slayer was widely recognized as a powerful Gold Element Superpower User.

He came from a family of traditional medicine practitioners, which gave him a particular edge against his opponents.

Few could withstand his self-developed Golden Needle Acupoint Attack.

"Thank god we didn’t draw Soul Slayer. That scared me to death,"

a member of the Veridian Team said from nearby.

"Yeah. I’ll be satisfied just making it to the top thirteen."

Their captain, Leander Lynch, nodded at Nina.

They had met and exchanged pleasantries once before, when Nina was handing out supplies at the base entrance.

"Captain Jacobs."

A voice called out to Nina, stopping her in her tracks.

It was Tyson Hughes.

Nina stopped, and Wayne Warner, who was behind her, shot him a wary look.

"Can I help you?" Nina asked.

Tyson Hughes smirked. "Just saying hello. I’ll be waiting for you in the finals, Captain Jacobs."

His words were filled with undisguised provocation.

The area gradually fell silent, and the team that had drawn the Superpower User Alliance as their opponent looked utterly defeated.

"Maybe we should just forfeit. That Hughes guy is too strong,"

one of them said.

In the round of 50, Tyson Hughes had taken the stage for less than twenty seconds before his opponent was beaten so badly they couldn’t even fight back.

On top of that, he was a Dual Element Superpower User of the Thunder and Speed elements.

"There’s no way we can win."

"Sure."

It was just a single word, but her presence didn’t lose out to his in the slightest.

Watching Nina Jacobs and her group walk out, Caleb Carter remarked with great interest,

"This newly formed Stella... they’re certainly interesting."