I opened an adventurer's guild in another world.

Chapter 626's plan is to raise the overall level of professionals across the continent.

After returning to Xuelong City ahead of schedule, Anno immediately went to find Shadow.

Shadow was left in Xuelong City by Anno and has been researching the Summoner Skill [Substitute Strawman].

This skill's effect is that when you receive fatal damage, you can leave a scarecrow at the spot, teleport your main body to a distance, and conceal your presence for three minutes so that you cannot be detected by enemies.

The 【Substitute Straw Doll】 requires magic runes to be written on the body, and it is activated the moment it is attacked.

Shadow's current training method involves writing magic runes on the heart—or other vital locations, such as the head.

Furthermore, the timing of completing the magic rune design must be precisely timed to coincide with the arrival of the attack.

As a sixth-tier skill, it requires fifty magic runes, making it extremely difficult to learn.

The construction of a seventh-tier skill's magic array only involves seventy or eighty magic rune loops.

Even with Philomena's guidance, Shadow's progress was still very slow.

However, after Anno advanced to the eighth rank, Shadow's various abilities also improved.

When Anno found the shadow, the latter was having the snake woman Athena attack her.

A beam of green light shot from Athena's mouth toward the shadow's heart.

Just as the green light was about to arrive, Shadow pointed the tip of his right index finger at his heart and chest, rapidly drawing magical runes.

This process takes less than a second.

In Athena's eyes, the shadow's hand was like a phantom, and she couldn't see the movements at all.

However, Anno's two special eyes are quite powerful, which slowed down Shadow's hand speed considerably.

This allowed Anno to clearly see the formation of each magic rune.

call out!

The green light struck the shadow's chest, instantly piercing its heart.

However, no blood flowed from the wound.

A few seconds later, Anno, who had been standing still, turned into a human-shaped scarecrow.

The scarecrow is the same size as Anno.

Although it was made of straw, it seemed as if Anno's appearance could be seen in the face.

At this point, the scarecrow has a large hole that has been pierced through its heart area.

Anno sensed the location of the shadows around him, but couldn't find them.

"How's it going? Pretty good, right?"

Philomena appeared beside Anno at some point and raised an eyebrow to ask.

"The concealment effect is quite good, making it hard to believe that this is a sixth-tier skill."

However, can a skilled, high-level professional detect shadows?

Philomena replied, "If we're careful, a seventh-tier hunter shouldn't be able to detect it. But against an eighth-tier hunter who's good at reconnaissance, it's still not enough."

"For a sixth-tier skill, achieving this effect is already quite good!"

Anno nodded in satisfaction.

Anyway, it's easy to obtain a seventh-tier soul now.

The benefit of the [Spirit Sacrifice] skill lies here: once you learn the skill, you can sacrifice souls to level up.

This means that every skill Anno has mastered can be considered a growth skill!

"But you're really stupid. You only managed to understand a sixth-tier skill quickly when you reached the eighth tier. At your level, the effectiveness of [Substitute Straw Doll] is greatly reduced."

Philomena glanced at Anno and said sarcastically.

Then she frowned and asked in confusion, "But with such poor talent, why is the improvement speed so fast?"

It only took him one year to rise from an ordinary person to the eighth rank.

This is quite rare even in the realm of gods!

You're a really strange guy.

"I have a way to make the [Substitute Straw Doll] effective in battles at my level," Anno explained, then looked at Philomena and asked, "Are there even faster ones in the God Realm?"

"Don't underestimate the creatures living in the realm of gods. Some races have terrifying growth potential; some have even reached the ninth rank in just a few months!"

At this point, Philomena asked, "Is upgrading skill rank also an effect of your innate skill? To so significantly increase the number of summoned creatures and also raise skill levels, what exactly is your innate skill?"

"Keep it a secret!"

"Tch~, you think that meeting is over already?"

Anno nodded, looking up at the distant sky, and said, "Preparing for the next phase!"

Philomena looked up at Anno, puzzled. "Prepare? What do you want to do?"

"I remember that many of the materials for the God-level Divine Control Array are special products from other planes."

"You want to create a god-level divine array?"

Philomena said with a solemn expression, "The materials used in a god-level divine array cannot be collected in just one or two planes."

Moreover, these materials are very valuable, and most of them are in the hands of the powerful.

It's practically impossible for you to gather the materials for a god-level divine array right now.

Anno smiled and said, "It's just some preliminary preparation. The current plan is to improve the strength of the kingdom's professionals, and even the professionals of this continent."

"To raise the overall skill level of professionals across the continent?"

Philomena shook her head helplessly and said, "An individual's strength is limited, but the power of the masses is immense!"

It is precisely because of this that the Summoner class was created.

No one understands the power of the masses better than a Summoner.

But raising the skill level of professionals across an entire continent—that sounds simple, but in practice... do you know what that means?

Philomena stared at Anno with wide eyes and answered her own question: "The resources of a plane are limited. Some planes can only cultivate a small number of ninth-order beings."

If you want to continue to improve, the only way is to plunder resources from other planes.

Do you think the powerful beings in the plundered plane would just stand by and watch you plunder them?

On a grander scale, this is how interdimensional wars break out!

Seeing that Anno's expression did not change at all, Philomena warned, "I'm telling you, with your current strength, you must not act recklessly."

I told you I'd send you to other dimensions, but not now.

Let's focus on developing our strength to the peak of the Ungomulos continent first, and then think about these issues.

"But they have already made a move against Angomulos."

Have you forgotten how they forced you to hide in the God's Space?

"If I hadn't gone into the God's Realm to inform you, you wouldn't even have dared to come out."

Seeing Philomena frown, Anno chuckled and said, "It's only in the preparation stage right now. I'll plan this out slowly."

After saying that, Anno deactivated the [Shadow Summoning] skill.

The moment the shadow returned, Anno's mind was filled with the training memories of the [Substitute Straw Man].

The structure of the magic runes is now clear.

Then Anno left with Liss and Sassi.

Athena, her snake tail swaying, bowed to Philomena before obediently following behind.

"He said he wouldn't go anywhere else, but he's already contradicted himself so quickly."

Watching Anno disappear, Philomena bit her finger and muttered, "It seems that the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception has been influencing Anno all along."

With such limited strength, they're already thinking about causing trouble in other dimensions.

It also raises the overall professional standard across the continent.

Do you think you are the master of Un'gomulos?

Philomena rolled her eyes and then went to find her sidekick, Ruth.

Ruth obeyed Philomena in every way and was highly valued by Philomena.

Therefore, Philomena decided that once the temple was ready, she would appoint Ruth as the temple's saintess!

Anno went to see Ella to find out about the recent situation in Xuelong City.

The city of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur has now taken in tens of thousands of refugees, and the resettlement of these people is a major problem.

They have been supported by the city of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur these days.

However, Ella only provided them with enough food to barely make ends meet.

These refugees need to find their own opportunities to eat well.

The city lord's mansion is providing employment opportunities so that these refugees can begin to support themselves.

The foundation for the Summoning Temple has already been dug under Philomena's command, and many strong refugees have gone to work on it.

Several mines near the Klang Valley have also resumed operations, providing numerous job opportunities.

Moreover, due to the operation of the mines, trade between Kuala Lumpur and surrounding cities has become increasingly frequent.

Especially in Glad City.

There were many caravans traveling between the two sides every day.

Besides the good news, there's also some not-so-good news.

That is, the extermination of monsters in Sunset Lands is not going very smoothly.

Andrei also made some progress, killing several core cult members.

However, there is still no news about Andrei, the leader of this cult.

Moreover, according to the information sent back by Andrei, the cultists were also searching for his whereabouts.

"Is the cleanup of Sunset Land stalled?"

Anno stroked his chin and thought for a moment before saying, "Then let's designate Sunset Land as a combat training ground."

Anno, sitting at his desk, took out a parchment scroll, wrote a few lines, then put it in an envelope, dripped wax on it, and stamped it with his baron's seal.

"Ella, send this letter to Iron Fortress in the Dwarf Kingdom as soon as possible!"