"I won't let Jiliye go into battle!"—This was Nero's first reaction.

"Who is Dante? Why is he here to kill?"—This was Nero's second reaction.

He didn't need Jiliye to fight, and it was hard to imagine the scene described by this mysterious will—the gentle girl rolling up her sleeves to fight the enemy. Just thinking about it felt too beautiful, and he couldn't construct such a detailed picture in his mind.

Yet, he immediately became alert due to a strange name mentioned by the mysterious will.

Why would the will say Dante is coming to kill? Who is this person? Is there some kind of grudge? Is Jiliye directly going to fight without his involvement… Does this mean Dante is targeting him and Jiliye, planning something against them?

For a brief moment, Nero's mind was flooded with various thoughts.

In his consciousness, the voice calmly replied, "Oh, this… he is your uncle."

"You—!!"

Nero's anger surged uncontrollably. He naturally couldn't believe it, not taking it seriously at all. On the contrary, his perception of this guy became worse... although it had already hit rock bottom.

"Alright, now go and fulfill the task..."

The voice seemed rather indifferent.

"Hunt demons, obtain materials, assist with my research. This is your current task. It's not much different from your usual routine, just an additional final step. The research doesn't require your attention; just help with some surface work."

Nero took a deep breath but remained silent.

He adjusted his coat and strode off into the distance.

As of now, the agreement he reached with this mysterious will was indeed as stated. It didn't involve harming humans, stealing the secrets of the church, or disrupting the town's operations, and so on. This slightly weakened Nero's resistance.

As the other side mentioned, it's essentially his routine work, just with minor changes.

Moreover, he observed that the voice was articulate and rational, giving him an oddly avant-garde impression of understanding and engaging with the human world, posing as a relationship expert... These peculiarities combined made Nero increasingly suspicious.

Now, he's tasked with hunting demons, so perhaps the other party is indeed not a demon?

Of course, this could just be a ruse to deceive him; Nero did not easily lower his guard.

"As for the reward, let me think..."

The voice continued, seemingly pondering seriously.

"I don't need it."

With the golden morning light, Nero walked briskly on the stone-paved avenue, coldly responding. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Whether you need it is your concern. Whether to give a reward is mine. Anyway, as mentioned, this is mutually beneficial cooperation, consider it as fulfilling my commission… As for handling the reward I provide, that's naturally up to you."

The other party calmly responded, without any objection.

Though somewhat mischievous, it's because Nero is still quite inexperienced. After all, his demon blood just awoke recently, heavily rejecting the Demon Power brought by his mutated right hand. He hasn't accepted nor actively trained to use this power.

However, this situation won't last forever. Though Nero can't sense it, nor deal with it now, the demonization touching the essence of the soul will inevitably come, not too far off. While he himself is now merely a Thought Backup, parasitizing within the naturally dispersed Spirit waves of a life form's Consciousness Seed…

Thus, it's crucial to take this time to change the young man's perception of him.

Simply explaining won't suffice; actions matter. As long as Nero sees he isn't one of those insidious, cruel, vicious demons, and realizes the help he can provide, he won't constantly think about how to hang his boss from a street lamp but will become an excellent worker.

"Hmph…"

Nero didn't know what the mysterious will was contemplating, but he inexplicably felt a cold chill, without dwelling on it, just snorted coldly, intending to say something more.

"Hmm, I've thought of a classic, yet effective, proven positive feedback loop reward mechanism."

The voice laughed, and as soon as the words fell, a pale blue translucent screen appeared in Nero's sight, startling him momentarily. Instinctively he raised his aura, his muscles tightening, appearing extremely alert and vigilant.

However, there was no danger, nor any ensuing pain or suffering.

The screen was square, displaying text-like content that seemed to burn—

"Current Task: Investigate the Second Excavation Site, eliminate the demons appearing there. (A string of jumping red numbers behind: 47:09:13)"

"Task Difficulty: D Level."

"Estimated Completion Reward: 5 Points."

"Additional Exploration Reward: Martial Arts Secret Transmission Book 'Phoenix Cry Slash', +1 Enchanted Bullet crafting technique (choose one)"

...

Blinking his eyes, Nero was somewhat dazed.

He recognized every single word and number above, but combined, they became confusing. Concerning resolving the trouble at the Second Excavation site, this was indeed the task he received from the church early this morning, slated for completion within two days.

But what did those things behind say?

Although he was very puzzled, the voice did not appear again, showing no intention to answer, as if it was no longer there.

This only made Nero angrily grit his teeth. After pondering for a long time, he could only continue to leave the small town, carrying his Equipment and heading towards the island excavation site. Anyway, just stick to the original plan and see what this guy's plot is.

Although the voice disappeared, the gaze watching Nero did not vanish.

Gu Mo's consciousness was silently observing the young man's actions.

Using knowledge-based rewards as exchanges is the most suitable choice for now. After all, there's no way to provide tangible rewards... It's possible to wait until everything is on track and I have actual hands-on ability to upgrade the reward list authority by a notch.

Craft Magical Treasure Divine Artifact…

Provide Talisman Scroll…

Support enhancement and upgrading options for Magic Equipment…

This world's technology tree is quite valuable, with things like artificial Demon, Demon Weapon forging. The harvest from this world can be fed back to my ego and also provide assistance to interdimensional counterparts in other worlds. Conversely, I can also use the harvest from other worlds in this one to provide better support.

Just don't know if it will distort the art style…

For example, Nero piloting a Magic Starship, using the Crimson Empress as a Hundred-Step Flying Sword, upgrading the Azure Rose from a Revolver to an Iron Blood Warrior Plasma Shoulder Cannon…

Is this some kind of new era Demon Hunter?

As this image turned in his mind, Gu Mo couldn't help but feel a bit subtle about it, because for now, this seems quite likely indeed... since in another world, a whimsical and wonderful plan of his is about to succeed.

......

...

Another world.

Also, a time-space of Earth resembling a Mirror Universe.

In the icy snowfields of Antarctica, a battle exceeding imagination had just come to an end.

Dressed in a tough exoskeleton, looking like a super-sized giant mantis, the nearly two-story-high Alien Queen laid motionless and soundless on the ice field, with corrosive blood rapidly seeping out, pooling into a blood basin of strong acidic liquid, freezing while eroding the surrounding ice.

"..."

"..."

The cold wind howled, the ice field that was just filled with panic, anger, screams, and various other sounds suddenly seemed to calm down.

The surviving people looked at each other in disbelief, only reacting afterward, rushing forward to check the condition of the young man who swayed a few times but stood upright, persisting without falling.

"Awesome! Amazing!"

"Gu! You did it… Oh, God! Unbelievable…"

They cried and laughed, extremely emotional, not knowing what to do, because the young man was drenched in blood, severely injured, with blood gushing from his mouth and nose, his body instinctively twitching slightly, though still standing, seemingly ready to fall dead at any time.

At this moment, heavy footsteps were heard.

The crowd looked to the source of the sound to find the equally wounded Alien Monster dragging its weary and heavy body over, instantly becoming bewildered and at a loss.

The other had a Humanoid body, but the head had insect characteristics, with huge tusks at the jaw, looking equally vicious and terrifying, and had dense "braids" formed from flesh tendrils.

Although wearing unimaginable high-tech devices, it gave people a sense of a wild primitive tribe, feeling strangely contradictory yet harmonious in appearance.

Although earlier, in the most critical life-and-death moment, nobody cared about this, everyone stood on the same line against the giant bloodthirsty Monster. But now with things settled and their strongest fighting power unable to fight anymore, they naturally panic, unsure what happens next.

Standing in front of the crowd, the sturdy Alien first looked at the human Warrior who demonstrated incredible combat prowess, then at the silent Alien Queen on the ice field not far away, and finally issued a roar-like sound, making everyone tense.

—Even though from start to finish, the other ignored their existence.

The next moment, ripples appeared in the air.

Shadows manifested around.

Dazzling light burst from the air, as if an entrance to another space emerged within the plane, but it was the gigantic alien spaceship lifting Invisibility, revealing its outline amidst the wind and snow, having already landed on this ice field unknowingly.

A much larger and more robust Alien came forward, seemingly a higher-ranking leader, seriously inspecting the genuinely "Warrior" with weakening aura embraced by the humans.

His mouth and nose gushed with blood, pale as if dying anytime, yet still stood tall…

Hands firmly inserted the folded spear he seized into the ice layer, struggling to support his trembling, reaching-the-limit body while holding his head high, facing the Alien ahead.

The air became exceptionally quiet and oppressive.

Seemed frozen.