Having dispatched the Son of Fermon, its corpse curled inward, still twitching faintly despite being pinned to the earth. At that moment, it was visible how the twenty-three hearts atop the Golden Altar were rapidly shrinking within their soaking liquid, dissolving with incredible speed in the water, much like sugar or salt.

Evidently, to complete the Golden Side Quest—the Sacrifice of the Cherokee—they would have to wait until these hearts had completely dissolved upon the altar! Simultaneously, the raised Pandora Crystal Concave Mirror began to vaporize into the air, though the light it projected grew ever brighter, slowly piercing into the indistinct depths of the small lake below.

The hearts and the concave mirror finally vanished before everyone’s eyes together. After their disappearance, the clear water of the small lake suddenly emanated a faint, purplish glow—a light that was mysterious, majestic, and solemn, carrying an illusory suggestion that compelled one to involuntarily kneel in worship.

Slowly, two or three long, luminous purple appendages emerged from the clear water below, gently swaying in the radiant, transparent liquid. The soft purple light drifted with the currents, instilling a sense of solace and solemnity in people’s hearts, intensifying the psychological suggestion toward reverence. Everyone in the Taqi tribe, save for Old Mulbo, simultaneously dropped to their knees in terror and trembling, pressing their foreheads tightly to the ground.

Only Old Mulbo’s face was contorted in horror, his entire body shaking violently, muttering under his breath: “The Tree of Souls in the water! It is the Tree of Souls in the water!!”

He suddenly charged madly into his tribesmen, furiously kicking at them: “Get up! Don't kneel! Don’t pray here! Do you all want to become the Fallen?”

Hearing Old Mulbo’s words, every doubt in Fang Senyan’s mind vanished in an instant, just as lost beads finding their threading string; he completely understood the whole sequence of events!

But he had no time to ponder now, because as the twenty-three hearts on the altar completely melted, the detached, pale-purple luminous appendages floating in the clear lake grew more numerous. Yet, the lake water was extremely crystal clear, so these thousands of purple appendages undulated slowly with the water's ripples, much like the branches of willow trees in early spring—magnificent and breathtakingly beautiful.

At the same time, the long-awaited Nightmare Mark notification finally descended: “Golden Side Quest: Sacrifice of the Cherokee successfully completed.” “You have successfully slain the Cherokee Chieftain and extracted his heart for sacrificial offering.” “Quest Completion Evaluation: Extremely Poor (You will not receive a worse rating than this).” “Quest Description: The Mosak Tribe is annihilated, and the heart of the Cherokee was successfully sacrificed on the Golden Altar. You have only completed these two main elements, so you will only receive the lowest rating and basic rewards.” “Hint: Your team level is insufficient, thus your Silver Team Leader status cannot influence the reward outcome.” “Your Merit Points increased by 20 + 1 point (Legendary Status extra +1).” “You have obtained thirty thousand Universal Points.” “You have obtained thirty Potential Points.” “You have successfully completed the Golden Side Quest! Team Experience increased by 30 points!!” “Your current Team Experience is 60 points, 15 points; please expedite raising your military rank so the team can upgrade.”

After this information concluded, there was a pause. Fang Senyan had already shared the task information with the entire team, indicating he was not keeping anything secret. While everyone was puzzled, the prompt quickly continued: “Based on your quest completion evaluation of: Extremely Poor, you are only eligible to receive two randomly appearing unique rewards exclusive to the Golden Side Quest!” “Please choose three options from the following rewards as your final haul.” “Reward A: You receive a bonus of 10 + 1 point (Legendary Status extra reward) to your [Free] Base Attribute Points.” “Description: Upon selecting this option, your [Free] Base Attribute Points will increase by an additional 10 + 1 point. You may assign these points to your base attributes at any time.” “Reward B: Interstellar Journey Certificate (One-time consumable item).” “Description: Upon using this item, you cannot be attacked by Contractors (broadly defined, including Settlers, etc.) during your remaining time in this world, nor can you attack other Contractors.” “Reward C: Exemption Authorization (This item can exempt punishment for tasks of difficulty B or lower 3 times, and punishment for tasks of difficulty A or lower 1 time. It cannot exempt punishment for tasks of higher difficulty).” “Description: Upon using this item, the punishment resulting from task failure will be negated. Naturally, you must also forfeit the task reward. Please use this item before the task punishment is due to arrive.” “Reward D: Innistat Steroid Implant.” “Description: This is the latest invention, inspired by human cardiac pacemakers. This implant will collect carbon dioxide within your body and continuously synthesize new steroid hormones to supply the musculature, increasing your attack power by 15%. This boost functions similarly to an Aura effect and will exist permanently… All you need to do is inject it into your body. Rest assured, based on one hundred thirty-seven years of clinical observation experiments, having no more than three implants in your body will not affect your health.” “Reward E: Medal of Crusader Honor.” (Unique reward for the Golden Side Quest) “Description: Upon using this medal, your current military rank can be immediately increased by 1 level. Usable only for ranks above Lieutenant or Reserve Colonel.” “Reward F: Ekluzon-Kruka-Ryu Ion Compound High-Energy Injection.” (Unique reward for the Golden Side Quest) “Description: The Ekluz High-Energy Injection is an extremely rare pharmaceutical. Even for Contractors who have almost fully developed their internal potential, this can cause another leap in strength, directly breaking through human limits! It allows a Contractor to become a Formal Settler without undergoing any trials.” “Reward G: Land Cruiser Life Defender.” (One-time consumable item) “Description: This item can be used under any circumstances to instantly transport the user back to the safe haven of the Nightmare Space… The side effect is that any benefits you gained in this world will be entirely wiped clean.” “Description: Although we do not encourage fleeing on the battlefield, well, even brave warriors deserve the right to surrender with dignity.” “Reward H: Elite Metal Dissolution Modulating Fluid.” “Description: This is a rare Silver Plot Grade item. Smear it onto equipment or weapons you intend to materialize, and it will grant a 100% chance to directly upgrade to LV3, a 50% chance to directly upgrade to LV5, and a 10% chance to directly upgrade to LV7.” “Description: This item is only effective on equipment and items of Silver Plot Grade or Dark Gold Grade.” “Description: This is a rare substance further extracted from the planet's core, capable of significantly increasing the material’s ductility and toughness. It is a highly precious item even within the entire Nightmare Space.”

Looking at this series of descriptions, the eyes of the three men lit up simultaneously. It could be said that not a single one of these seven items was useless! Even selling any one of them would be worth a king’s ransom. Although the boost from the Innistat Steroid Implant seemed limited, note that the addition was a percentage! Furthermore, it didn’t occupy an equipment slot. In the later stages, upon becoming Settlers or reaching higher levels, this 15% attack boost might translate into an overwhelming, terrifying advantage.

Faced with these rewards for a Golden Side Quest, MCDH also appeared somewhat curious. Fang Senyan had to admit that without his terrifying single shot, whether he could have completed the mission was ambiguous, so he presented this series of reward options to seek his counsel.

Even though MCDH was a Settler, he couldn't help but gasp in amazement at the generous rewards. He pondered for a moment before saying to Fang Senyan, “The Space has strict confidentiality regulations on certain information, so I can’t say much. But if I were you, I would definitely consider the Base Attribute Points! By the way, you should have already received the bonus for breaking through 20 points in your naked stats, right?”

MCDH’s statement was somewhat disjointed, but upon hearing it, a sudden thought struck Fang Senyan. He looked deeply at MCDH, then nodded seriously: “Understood, thank you.”

MCDH laughed heartily, while Fang Senyan immediately chose Option A: 10 + 1 [Free] Attribute Points! Combined with the 8 [Free] Attribute Points he had previously earned, his unassigned [Free] points now reached a terrifying total of 19! However, Fang Senyan still had no intention of allocating these points right now.

He still had several lingering questions. Since returning was imminent, and this return would certainly result in a rank promotion, he would gain access to more confidential data. If these questions could receive satisfactory answers, then adding points later would be much more purposeful—which was the best outcome.

With his plan settled, Fang Senyan turned to Reef and Mogansha: “This Golden Side Quest was a life-and-death struggle for everyone. There are two choices left; you two can divide them!”

Reef and Mogansha both looked stunned: “Boss? Don’t you need that Ekluzon High-Energy Injection?”