Besides a large number of Atonement Points and Holy Silver Coins, this level-skipping monster-killing spree had brought Ma Lu an additional 1000 experience points.
These 1000 experience points allowed him to jump up two levels, from Level 5 straight to Level 7, and not only that, but the experience bar under Level 7 was also filled halfway.
He would only need another 200 experience points to level up again next time.
Ma Lu then glanced at the level-up rewards, one of which was an item named [Stone], unlocked when moving from Level 6 to Level 7.
[Stone], as the name suggests, is just a stone that can be placed in any square, acting as a roadblock.
However, unlike the previously obtained banners, [Stone] was not a Virtual Item, but actually existed in reality.
To further confirm this, Ma Lu later tested it by dragging the stone from the right side of the toolbar to the square in front of him.
The next second, a cubic stone measuring 4×4×4 meters actually materialized out of thin air in that spot.
The three witches couldn't help but widen their eyes, especially Yun Que, who subsequently pinched her own thigh, letting out a scream.
After looking around, Bliss Bird spoke up, "Did anyone just see how this stone appeared?"
"I know, it must have fallen from the sky!" Hellhound interjected, "I've heard that some stones fall from the sky."
"What you're talking about are meteorites, and this clearly isn't one."
"Why can't it be a meteorite, you've never seen a meteorite, have you?"
"Because, as far as we know, meteorites aren't this regular in shape, and also, if it were a meteorite falling, the impact would not be this quiet."
Bliss Bird advanced, carefully tapping the stone with her wand, "This stone looks more like a man-made object, evidence being its length, width, and height are all exactly equal."
"Bliss, you're really impressive, being able to observe so much just from a stone," Yun Que said, sounding like she half-understood.
Bliss Bird had already fallen into contemplation, "I heard that before the great disaster, people liked to build secret underground bases; maybe we accidentally triggered something... that caused this stone to appear here."
"If we can decipher its secret, maybe we could enter that secret base and see for ourselves."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"No, you can't," said Ma Lu, and he spoke with a certainty.
"Why not?" Bliss Bird frowned.
"Because I threw this stone here, it has nothing to do with any secret underground base."
"Not to replace the witch but to add another person. With just three people, combat is still a bit strenuous," Ma Lu said.
"Then donate money," replied Yun Que, the only one among the three who remained as calm as ever.
"Donate money, to whom, the Church?"
"That's right. As long as you donate over 150,000 Holy Silver Coins, you can pick another witch."
"Lottery?" Ma Lu's expression turned somewhat odd, 150,000 for a draw, that was a steep price indeed.
"What?"
"It's nothing; I got it."
Ma Lu then stored the Thousand-Faced Konjac into the Collection Bag and hurried back to Holy Temple City an hour before the countdown ended.
First, he went to the Order of Knights to submit the clearing mission, planning to go back to his small apartment for a rest.
But as he walked through the streets, he heard the sound of bells.
Four bells in total. Three long and one short.
Then, the surrounding crowd put aside what they were doing and hurried off in one direction.
Out of curiosity, Ma Lu followed them.
Eventually, he arrived at a circular plaza, where at the very center stood a wooden platform. On the platform, there was a girl, who looked not much older than Yun Que, probably in her early twenties.
Her flaxen hair was disheveled, and her clothes were grimy as if she hadn't bathed in a month.
She was tied to a wooden post, and below stood an old Monk in white robes. Additionally, there were two Knights completely covered in armor, standing on either side of the Monk.
The old Monk loudly read out the crimes of the witch on the platform, including betraying Knights, colluding with heretics, blaspheming the gods, spreading lies, and seducing the public...
Jeers echoed from the crowd, and someone picked up a stone and threw it at the witch on the platform. Soon after, more and more people began to pick up stones.
Men and women, old and young, expressed their disdain for the traitor in this way, venting their anger.
However, the witch on the platform, perhaps too injured from interrogation, never lifted her head.
When the people below had almost released their fury, the old Monk personally lit the platform on fire, and in a short while, the flames engulfed the figure above.