Assembling the Team

"The Spirit Flame Queen can be raised — if you give it Spirit Seed Fragments regularly while it's still young, you might get lucky and have it evolve a soul seed-grade flame when it advances. If that happens, your Contract Beast would be absolutely broken. High-Level Mages would be scared just looking at it!" Zhao Manyan grew more animated with every word, clearly never having expected that a casually purchased Intel Scroll would contain anything about the Spirit Flame Queen.

Intel Scrolls really were a gold mine.

Honestly, Mo Fan hadn't been particularly interested in the Contract Beasts that went up at auctions — none of them seemed as practical as his Swift Star Wolf, and spending forty million for nothing would be an outright waste.

But the Spirit Flame Queen Zhao Manyan was describing was exactly what Mo Fan had in mind.

*If you're going for it, go for the best.*

*Fine. Throw money at it.*

He'd pour cash into Intel Scrolls until he'd squeezed out every last scrap of information on the Spirit Flame Queen.

The Hunter-mage world churned with intelligence day and night. Most of it flowed through Hunter Hall, but other venues existed where valuable leads could surface too — just as any martial world had its taverns and inns buzzing with rumor, Hunter-mages had their own informal gathering spots scattered around the city.

Zhao Manyan seemed right at home with all of this. He sent some of his people ahead to work those less official venues, collecting whispers and rumors, while Mo Fan focused on purchasing targeted Intel Scrolls to see if anything else turned up about the Spirit Flame Queen.

"The money's burning up fast... and all I get is a handful of lines." Inside their private room, Mo Fan surveyed the pile of scrolls spread across the table and winced.

It was honestly a bit like buying lottery tickets — except with Intel Scrolls, you knew exactly what "winning" looked like and still had to spend ridiculous amounts just to stumble onto the right one.

"This one's valuable," Zhao Manyan said, holding a scroll up. "A team of Hunter-mages was cutting through the Scorching Plains looking for a Spirit Seed route when they blundered straight into the Spirit Flame Queen's territory and got hit with a ferocious attack. The behavior tracks — a territorial, short-tempered Spirit Flame Queen is consistent with one that's currently nesting."

Between what they'd pulled from the Intel Scrolls, Mo Fan now had a reasonably clear picture of the northern reaches of the Scorching Plains and a solid sense of the Spirit Flame Queen's range. Not many Hunter-mages worked that area — the brutal heat was simply more than most people could stand.

The Dunhuang region was a different story — well-established Hunter-mage territory, teeming with Demon-Beasts and rich with ancient relics.

"We know the location, the route, the dangers, and what's there waiting for us," Mo Fan said. "The only thing left is going in person."

The Intel Scrolls had also come packed with supplementary information — practical knowledge that would help them dodge unnecessary trouble once they were inside the Scorching Plains. That was Demon-Beast territory through and through; without knowing the right tricks, a person could barely move in there.

"You're already set on going? With just this much intel?" Zhao Manyan asked, eyebrows raised.

"One trip never hurt anyone. Think of it as a Field Expedition," Mo Fan said.

"Don't say that word to me," Zhao Manyan replied, his face going flat.

"Ha. The Scorching Plains aren't that far — fly out to Gansu, skirt around Dunhuang, and we should reach the northern edge pretty quickly. Round trip won't take more than half a month. We come back, rest up, and we'll still make it in time for next month's second Challenge Week," Mo Fan said.

"You really do just say something and then go do it," Zhao Manyan said with a helpless sigh.

Most Hunter-mages would do exhaustive homework before any major expedition — nobody wanted to make the journey for nothing. Someone who'd charge off the way Mo Fan did was genuinely rare.

But honestly, no amount of picking through secondhand information beat putting your own feet on the ground.

"Since you're going, good luck. Bring that incredible Spirit Flame Queen back and sweep right through Pearl Academy's Main Campus!" Zhao Manyan offered cheerfully.

"Luck my ass — did I say I was going alone?" Mo Fan said, one eyebrow cocked.

"Oh hell, you're not about to drag me into this too, are you?" Zhao Manyan stared at him, stunned.

"What do you think?"

"..."

Mo Fan had seen during the battle with the Vampire exactly what a truly airtight defense looked like — having Zhao Manyan along would slash their danger level considerably. Hunting down a Spirit Flame Queen's young was going to be no easy task, and Mo Fan didn't like his chances without some elite company at his back.

After some arm-twisting and no small amount of coaxing, Zhao Manyan finally gave in.

Truth be told, Zhao Manyan hated dangerous situations. But his cultivation had been stagnating lately — no matter what he tried, he couldn't push through to the next level — and he figured a trip out might shake things loose. Besides, if it got too hairy, they could always cut and run. It wouldn't eat up that much time.

"Just the two of us won't cut it," Zhao Manyan said, voice serious. "We need more people. People we can actually trust."

This wasn't some small outing into the Scorching Plains — individual strength only stretched so far. They needed a solid team: people who could fight, hold the line, fall back, and get out when it counted.

"I already talked to Lingling. She seems interested — bring her along," Mo Fan said.

Lingling was their sharpest strategist, and her extensive Hunter experience alone would save them from a dozen mistakes.

"Yeah, yeah. Always good to go in with a plan. With her along we'll move a lot more efficiently," Zhao Manyan agreed with a nod.

Between the Scale-Skin Mother Demon incident at the gym and the recent Vampire hunt, Zhao Manyan had come to think very highly of Lingling. Taking her to the Scorching Plains beat bringing any of those veteran hunters who'd get you killed without batting an eye.

Mo Fan then picked up his phone and called Zhang Xiaohou to see where things stood on his end.

When it came to people he could truly trust, Zhang Xiaohou sat at the top of the list — and not just for that reason. The guy was fearless, a little rough around the edges, but when Demon-Beasts showed up he turned razor-sharp. Back during the Armored-Shell Giant Lizard and Marsh Poison Centipede operation, they never could have pulled off the plan to make those two monsters tear each other apart if Zhang Xiaohou hadn't been there... and those were Commander-class creatures. Zhang Xiaohou had gone toe-to-toe with Commander-class and not even flinched. The Scorching Plains wouldn't so much as make him blink.

Gansu and Shaanxi were practically neighbors too — Zhang Xiaohou coming over from Shaanxi wouldn't take long at all.

"We still need a Healing Element mage," Zhao Manyan said, his tone turning serious. "The Scorching Plains has a well-earned reputation for being brutal. We could come out of there missing limbs. Without a Healing Element mage, dying out there isn't a surprise — it's just what happens."

"You say that like Healing Element mages grow on trees," Mo Fan replied.

"What about Bai Tingting? Have you asked her?"

"I haven't seen her since I got back to school — I was actually going to say hello." Mo Fan shook his head. "You're Zhao Manyan, the man with connections everywhere. Don't tell me you don't have a single trustworthy Healing Element mage."

"Honestly? I don't. Anyone I could name would be some great family figure — not exactly someone I can just call up and ask," Zhao Manyan said.

Healing Element mages were a luxury for any Hunter-mage team under the best of circumstances, and this mission came with extra requirements on top — they needed someone they could rely on. Finding a trustworthy Healing Element mage from scratch was its own headache. As for Bai Tingting, she apparently hadn't returned to school since that incident.

"We're never going to put together a squad with the kind of balanced coverage that the established teams have," Zhao Manyan said seriously. "That's exactly why we absolutely need a solid Healing Element mage — one good one, no substitutes. Without one, forget the whole thing. The Spirit Flame Queen is a great prize, but not if you aren't alive to enjoy it."

Mo Fan rubbed his temple. Healing Element mages were the single hardest type to recruit anywhere in the world. The more he learned about the Spirit Flame Queen, the more desperately he wanted it as his Contract Beast — and yet this wall kept standing in the way.

"Oh, wait." Zhao Manyan suddenly thought of something and clapped Mo Fan on the shoulder. "Isn't your little sister Xinxia a Healing Element mage? And her primary is Healing, secondary is Mind Element, right? Elemental Demons aren't like other Demon-Beasts — they don't hold total hostility toward humans. With Xinxia's Mind Element abilities, she could calm them down without much effort. We'd have a clear path the whole way!"