A priest in North America, what the hell is the Demon Gate system?

The two elves, carrying the talisman, walked away, turning back every few steps.

Li Ang stood at the backyard gate, watching the two small figures disappear into the shadow of the church wall.

"The Land of Ascension...they said they're going there to prepare, and they'll be here at eight." Li Ang turned to look at Fernéus.

Fennes leaned against the pedestal of the angel statue, head bowed, adjusting her skirt. Her silver hair fell down, obscuring half her face, and her movements were slow and leisurely.

"That place, according to you humans, is a place for entertainment and leisure," she said without looking up.

"For leisure and entertainment?"

"Yes, the elves go there when they have nothing to do, drink some nectar, sing songs, and occasionally listen to other elves play instruments or something," Fernéus replied casually, flicking a strand of hair.

Li Ang couldn't help but ask a question mark.

"Did they learn business knives too?"

Li Ang helplessly raised his hand, preparing to turn around and walk back, when Fernéth suddenly spoke.

"You're quite generous."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know how much that kind of paper is worth to them? You just gave it to them without even asking them to work for you for many years."

Li Ang stopped and turned to look at her.

Fennes crossed his arms, his expression showing disdain for Leon's poor management of the household.

"We never give those things to elves when we work with them. We usually just use magic to forcibly summon them and then give them some magic dust afterward, just enough to keep them alive. But you, you just come up here and give them rewards like that. No wonder those two guys think of you as their big brother."

"So?" Li Ang asked.

"That job isn't worth that price at all. If you're willing, I can send them out at a lower cost, but you insist on..."

"Alright, alright, I've already given them all." Li Ang waved his hand to interrupt her.

"Hey! No matter how wealthy you are, you can't squander it like this... This could lead to some risks..." Before Fernéth could say anything more, Leon had already taken out the fish tank.

"It really is..." Fenneus fell silent, transforming into a stream of light and disappearing into it.

-----------------

As the sun set, the church hall grew dark. The setting sun outside the glass windows was almost gone, leaving only the ever-burning lamp in the direction of the altar, flickering weakly.

Li Ang pushed open the office door and pressed the switch on the wall.

The fluorescent light flickered twice before turning on, emitting a low buzzing sound. Li Ang walked to the window and opened the blinds.

The Ford van was still parked in the parking lot in front of the church. Daphne was standing next to it, writing something on a tablet.

She wrote very diligently, occasionally glancing up at the church roof before looking down at her keyboard again. The brim of her baseball cap swayed gently with her movements, and the setting sun cast a long shadow over her.

She's supposed to officially start work tomorrow; today's work is just a preliminary assessment. Li Ang looked at her and thought to himself that this woman was quite dedicated. She drove all the way from Philadelphia by herself, carrying tools, taking photos and making records, and hadn't taken a break all afternoon.

Daphne suddenly looked up and glanced in the direction of the church.

Li Ang didn't dodge; he just stood by the window. It was too far away to see her expression clearly. He only saw her raise her hand and wave before continuing to do what she was doing.

Li Ang opened the blinds, turned around, and walked back to his desk to sit down.

The chair creaked, and Li Ang silently took out the leather notebook from his pocket.

He opened the notebook; the blank pages held no new writing. He laid the notebook flat on the table, stared at it for a few seconds, and muttered to himself.

"Senior, if you were still here, wouldn't you think what I'm doing right now is a bit outrageous?"

"Letting a demon repair the church roof...is that blasphemy, or making the best use of resources?"

The laptop is not responding.

Li Ang waited for a while, then sighed, closed his notebook, closed his eyes, and took a short nap.

-----------------

A night breeze blew by, carrying a slight chill.

Li Ang stood in the backyard of the church waiting, glancing at his watch every now and then.

About ten minutes later, a faint sound came from the direction of the base of the wall.

Li Ang glanced over and saw two small figures standing beside the vegetable garden in the moonlight.

Gnom and Deluades looked much more energetic than during the day, with satisfied expressions, indicating they had a good time in the Land of Ascension.

"Business is good for nurturing people," Li Ang chuckled to himself.

Upon seeing Li Ang approach, Gnom immediately straightened his back.

"Big brother!"

Delius followed suit with a graceful bow, the leaves above his head swaying gently.

"Big brother!"

"Ready?" Li Ang asked with a smile.

Gnom patted his chest, making a dull thud like stones colliding.

"Don't worry, brother!"

"Let's begin then."

Gnom and Druids exchanged a glance, responded simultaneously, and headed toward the church.

With a wave of his hand, Gnom raised a pillar of earth, sending him and Druids to the roof, just like an elevator.

Li Ang stopped caring about it, since he was too lazy to climb to the roof. He handed it over to the elf and then turned to cultivate the Blood Demon Qi Technique. He spent two points of his mana, and now his foundation was a bit unstable.

However, late at night, Gnom suddenly knocked on the office door.

Li Ang saw the little guy standing awkwardly in front of the table, as if he had done something wrong.

"What's wrong, Gnom?"

"Um... Brother, we might not be able to finish it in two days... so..." Gnom said somewhat guiltily, the situation on the church roof was clearly more complicated than he had thought.

"It's alright, slow and steady wins the race!"

Li Ang wasn't in a hurry; the system had given him plenty of time, and a few days later wouldn't be a problem. But Gnom himself was anxious.

"Brother! You've been so kind to us, how can we delay!"

"So, after thinking about it, we decided to use the old method to speed things up, and we wanted to let you know in advance."

"What method?" Li Ang leaned forward, his hands crossed to support his chin.

"It's about combining the power of earth and wood elements to create a clay giant; it can basically be done in one night."

Li Ang understood.

Isn't this just labor subcontracting in civil engineering? First, it's subcontracted to the general contractor, who then subcontracts it to the construction teams below, layer upon layer of subcontracting. It truly captures the essence of civil engineering.

"Okay, you guys do it." Li Ang agreed after thinking for a moment.

"It would be good if it could be finished in one night, otherwise the elves would be seen if they stayed here too long," Li Ang thought to himself.

"Brother! Don't worry, we know what we're doing. Actually, Deryuades is almost done. Why don't you come and take a look?" Gnom patted his chest and assured him.

Looking at his stone-like face, Li Ang wondered why this statement didn't sound quite right.

Turning to look at Fenneus, I found that she was now just like a normal little fish, leaning against the shadows of the fish tank, seemingly asleep, and not responding.

"Alright, let's go take a look."

Li Ang got up and quickly went to the backyard.

In the center of the backyard, Delius was casting his final spell, and the soil was now growing upwards like a small grave mound.

Tree roots emerged from all directions, entangling themselves in the soil and twisting loose clods into strong muscle fibers. The thing grew taller and stronger, eventually taking on a human shape.

It was about five meters tall, and its body was sculpted from a mixture of mud and tree roots, with a rough surface. Its head was round and had no facial features. Its arms were thicker than Li Ang's waist and hung down almost to its knees.

The giant stood there, motionless.

Li Ang looked at the giant and marveled at it.

"Hey! Didn't we agree to completely cover it with soil?" Unexpectedly, Gnom got anxious when he saw it and went up to argue with Deluades.

"No way! That would make it seem like only you did the work! I have to show my brother what I'm capable of!"

Deluades was clearly unconvinced and said with his hands on his hips.

"Alright, alright, let's get to work." Li Ang suppressed a laugh. These two elves were like kindergarten kids, which was really funny.

"Yes... Big Brother!" the two elves replied reluctantly, raising their hands in unison to begin controlling the clay giant.

To be honest, when Li Ang watched them operate, he felt like he was watching the Pacific Rim.

The two moved in roughly the same direction. The clay giant took a few steps to the front of the church, stretched out his hand, and several vines mixed with clay flew to the damaged area.

Li Ang followed with his divine sense, also out of curiosity about the repair process.

The vines gently wrapped around the broken wood, and soon, nourished by the wood element, the wood began to grow slowly. Meanwhile, the soil on the vines gently peeled off and fell onto the broken tiles, gradually beginning to glue them back together.

In less than half an hour, the roof was restored to its original state!

[Ding! Daily Sect Quest: Repair Outpost (Completed)]

[Task Reward: One low-grade cultivation technique, +100 contribution points]

"That's amazing... It's done just like that?" Li Ang exclaimed in amazement.

"Of course, brother, after all, earth is the foundation of architecture," Gnom proudly stated.

"Who said that? Without the wood element, the earth element is just a pile of mud at best!" Deluades was clearly unconvinced.

"Hey! Deluades, without earth elementals, do you expect your branches to climb all the way up?!"

"Gernom, I know you want to impress your older brother! But obviously my job is more important, okay!"

"Then I'll amplify my earth element power and show Big Brother!"

"Who's afraid of who?!"

To Li Ang's surprise, in just a short while, the two little ones started arguing and began to pour even more power into the giant's body.

"Hey, brothers, you guys..." Li Ang was speechless. This kind of situation was common in civil engineering. They were trying to take credit in front of the general contractor. He was about to step forward to dissuade them when his divine sense, which was not turned off, sensed something unusual.

Inside the clay giant, the intense collision of earth and wood elements unexpectedly generated a twisted and uncontrollable force!

"Damn it! Stop it—" Li Ang shouted sharply, but before the two elves could react, a violent elemental fluctuation came from the giant's body!

Immediately afterwards, two tendrils mixed with mud and vines shot out from the giant's body! They grabbed the two arguing elves and, before they could react, were sucked into the giant's body.

"Croak—! Big brother! Help me!!"

"Eek—!!"

"Hooray..."

After absorbing the two elves, a faint glow appeared on the giant's body. He then let out a deep, muffled roar and turned to look at Li Ang.

"Constructed...is this the risk Fenneus was talking about...?"

Li Ang smiled helplessly, and with a flick of his wrist, a ball of bright red lightning condensed in his hand.