Chapter 721 – Importance of Skills and Quests
The young man, Chase, was the first player that had obtained this quest from Miaomiao on the first day. He was only 15 in the real world. He won a lottery and ended up getting a VRMMO capsule to play this game.
Chase didn't expect good rewards from Miaomiao as he already had a blast in an adventure, traveling in the strange land and meeting many people. Unlike other players, who played this game to earn cryptocurrency tokens to make money, Chase played this game for fun.
Currently, Chase had upgraded his gears. He wore white-named robes, which gave average defensive properties. He also wielded a level 80 white-named long sword that he crafted for himself.
"Hou? Who did you find?"
Miaomiao was interested in the result. The other players also eavesdropped on the conversation as they suspected that Miaomiao was a part of the main story of the second world.
Chase reported his result, "Qi Hong and Qi Ning are famous weapon enchanters of the Qi Clan. Their clan manor is located in Huiji Province's capital city about 50 kilometers north of here. The other one I found is Lai Wen. She is a prodigy alchemist of Bongcloud Sect near Huiji City."
Miaomiao was satisfied with the answer. Now that Miaomiao obtained their general locations, it would be a lot easier to contact them.
However, there was a problem. These girls died early in their previous life, and they didn't consume Silver Qi. Therefore, he was now a stranger to them. Getting them back to his harem might be a problem.
'Welp. Conquering them again is a hassle. I might as well try to capture them normally like a dating game. I have almost five million years to spend here, so there's no hurry.'
Miaomiao glanced at the young gamer, who was expecting compensation for the intel.
Seeing how excited he was, Miaomiao had an idea. He brought out a pouch of 100 refined spirit stones and a fine long sword, which was a low-grade treasure that Miaomiao got from dead cultivators in his previous life.
"Pick one of the rewards. I have a pouch of spirit stones in my left hand and a low-grade weapon in my right hand. What do you want as a reward for that information?"
Chase widened his eyes while the spectators clamored in shock. From their perspective, a low-grade treasure was equivalent to a level-100 magic gear, which could boost a cultivator's strength by a lot.
Miaomiao also noticed the item description of the low-grade sword. It had a blue name, which indicated that it was a rare item.
The player hesitated for a while. He bit his lower lips and picked the pouch.
"I'll take the pouch, please."
"Not the sword?"
"Haha. It might get stolen if I take it now. I also can't use it at my level."
Miaomiao nodded in approval. Low-grade artifacts and gears contained Qi, which was hazardous to 1st-stage cultivators or players below level 100. It would take a while before Chase could use a low-grade artifact.
"True. You're not even a bone refining stage cultivator yet. This weapon might end up killing you instead of being useful," Miaomiao passed the pouch to the player and returned the sword to his dummy spatial ring.
Chase received a notification that he had completed Miaomiao's quest and gained some experience points. He looked at the screen in front of him in joy.
Meanwhile, Miaomiao also received a game notification.
DING
<Congratulations. A player has completed your quest, and he is happy with your rewards.>
<You have gained one point of LUCK because of the player's positive emotions.>
<You have earned one PACT for giving out a reasonable quest.>
<Note: You can earn more PACTs and LUCK if a player completes a difficult quest and obtain a lot of rewards from you. However, giving out high rewards and easy quests won't earn you tokens. If the quests are impossible for players to complete, you will not earn any reward.>
Seeing the hints, Miaomiao raised his eyebrows, inspired.
'That's quite a nice scheme, Mu-Nyang. I'm sure local cultivators will get addicted to this and form bonds with players. Well, I can give out quest chain and mess with these fools with MY STORY quests!'
Miaomiao secretly opened his system menu and drafted a new quest with his thoughts. But while Miaomiao was at it, the spectators let out a strange cry as if Chase had made the wrong decision. Their expressions distorted as if they needed to poop.
"IDIOT!"
"Why didn't he take the sword?! The fucking magic sword!"
"He has eyes, but he can't see Mount Tai!"
"I would have picked the sword. What a moron."
Chase overheard the jeers and mockeries. He bit his lower lips and looked down, afraid of facing the crowd.
Miaomiao glanced at the typical trolling spectators. Since these guys humiliated this poor boy, Miaomiao decided to pamper him and face-slap the crowd.
"I see that you're quite good at gathering information. I have another task for you. Are you up for it? It might be tricky and dangerous though."
Chase looked up and couldn't believe what he had heard. His anxiousness and nervousness were gone.
"Yes! I can do anything!"
"You're quite enthusiastic. Very well. Again, I have to warn you that this task might be dangerous and tricky. I need you to deliver this ring to one of my companions. Her name is Tang Ting, and she is a member of the Tang Clan. Don't lose it!"
Miaomiao gave Chase a smooth metal ring without any magical effect. However, Miaomiao created it by using his metal Qi and imbued a wisp of his aura signature inside. In the ring, Miaomiao left a message to Tang Ting that he would join the Celestial Sword Sect.
He missed the system rings, aka the Ring of Slave Master and Rings of Yin Slaves. After the great reset, the ring was converted into a regular spatial ring without the universe's karma. Miaomiao could no longer use it to track the location of other rings. Therefore, he could only hand a Qi-imbued ring to remind Tang Ting of his presence.
DING
As soon as Miaomiao finished giving out the quest, both Miaomiao and Chase could see the same quest menu.
.
Another Errand – Delivering a Ring
Mao Miaomiao is satisfied with your performance, and he believes that you are capable enough to handle witty tasks. Now, he entrusts you with another important errand. If you succeed, he might consider employing you.
Head to Tang Clan Manor and try to contact his fiancé, Tang Ting. If possible, you should give this ring to her yourself. If you give this ring to one of her clansmen, she might not get the hidden message inside.
Be careful of losing this quest item. If you die for any reason, this quest item will drop from you. This item cannot be equipped, traded, stored in a warehouse, or stored in a premium backpack.
Quest Difficulty: Hard
Quest Objective: Give the Ring of Memento to Tang Ting and report back to Mao Miaomiao
Failure Condition: You lose the ring, or the time limit expired.
Time Limit: One month
Quest Rewards: Unknown
Failure Condition: Mao Miaomiao will stop giving you quests.
.
Miaomiao snickered as he didn't expect the system to add trivial information to the description. He was surprised by the additional information that Tang Ting was his fiancé though.
'I guess I can gather new information this way. How convenient.'
Meanwhile, Chase was excited and scared at the same time. He looked around and discovered that many players had been glaring at him.
A shiver ran down his spine. Chase imagined that he might be targeted by guilds or greedy players, who wanted to steal his quest.
Chase gulped, and his face lost all color.
Miaomiao noticed Chase's pale complexion. He turned to other players and noticed greed in their eyes.
'This boy is fucked. They're going to gang him like how 3rd-rated villains ganged on protagonists. That won't do. I want this guy to succeed while the rest fail.'
Miaomiao closed his eyes and pondered how he could strengthen Chase. Then, he had an idea.
'What will happen if I turn this common mob into a protagonist? Can I do it without a heavenly fate fragment? Come to think of it, I was a mob that was destined to be sacrificed, but I end up surpassing all protagonists in Mu-Nyang's universe. I guess if anyone has enough determination and willpower, they can break the chains of fate and become a protagonist without heaven's luck.'
After thinking this far, Miaomiao gazed at Chase. Without consulting Mu-Nyang, he experimented with him.
"Boy."
"Y-Yes, sir?"
"Since you're the first to complete my assignment while the other incompetent idiots can't, I should give you something special. Close your eyes, bite your teeth, and take a deep breath. This might hurt a bit."
"???"
Chase didn't know what Miaomiao might do to him. He closed his eyes as instructed.
Miaomiao poked Chase's forehead with an index finger. A flow of memory entered Chase's mind!
Chase's body trembled as if he had a seizure. He collapsed on the ground, foaming his mouth and rolling his eyes upward.
The other players got scared and took a step away from Miaomiao and Chase. Some of them began recording the events with their game's recorders.
A minute later, everything was over. Chase regained his senses and found himself on the ground with drool all over his face. His HP dropped by 70%. Even his Qi and Mana were depleted.
However, Chase could see a new notification message, which delighted him. Miaomiao could also see Chase's game notification as well.
<Congratulations. You have learned a new skill, Energy Drain.>
Energy Drain was the old system skill that Miaomiao once used in his early days. He relearned it and fused it into other skills so many times that his body remembered how the skill was performed. Now, even without a system skill, Miaomiao could still use it.
Seeing a new skill, Chase almost cried the tear of joy.
In Pangu Online 2, players could learn skills by using skill books. However, there was a limit to what a game character could learn, depending on their spiritual roots and the sum of their status attributes. Once learned, the limited skill slots of the character would be consumed, and nobody could remove them.
As a result, players opted for unique or rarest skills to be efficient. Regular skills and utility skill books were treated like garbage while the rare-grade skill books were treated as sacred manuals.
In Chase's real world, the weakest rare-graded skill book was traded for at least 1,000$ as they were always in high demand. The useful ones, especially the super rare or ultra-rare skill books, got the price tags of 100,000 dollars!
A teenager like Chase couldn't possibly have enough money to get one. But now, Miaomiao just bestowed a good skill to him on a whim without consuming Chase's skill slot.
Miaomiao leaned over and whispered to Chase.
"If any moron gets on your way, use this skill on them. You'll be surprised."
Chase's eyes were moist. He kowtowed to Miaomiao, "Thank you, sir! I'll complete your task for sure!"
"Chill, boy. By the way, are you attending this event to join the sect as well?" Now, Miaomiao started chatting with Chase, indirectly stopping other players from striking up a conversation with him.
"Yes, sir! I want to try my luck!"
"Hahaha! I admire your spirit. You should maintain this attitude in the future. It will get you far."
"I'll keep that in mind, sir!"
Miaomiao and Chase continued to chat while they were waiting for the sect's assessment exam to start. The spectators wanted to chime in, but Mao Hao and the three bodyguards glared at them, warding them off.
10 minutes later, three nascent soul cultivators of the Celestial Sword Sect flew out of the sect and hovered in front of the crowd. The three elders looked around, checking the number of participants and their average strength.
But as soon as they noticed Miaomiao and his group, the elders rushed down and bowed 90 degrees toward him.
"Young Master Mao, welcome to Celestial Sword Sect! We're honored to be graced with your presence! We've heard a lot about your achievements."
Miaomiao lowered his head and returned the gesture, "I wouldn't dare. I'm still wet behind the ears, and I still need your guidance. Please raise your heads."
The elders laughed and helped Miaomiao up. Although they were embarrassed that the young man in front of them had the same cultivation base as theirs, they were mature enough to not be jealous of Miaomiao's natural talent. After all, he was the son of their sect master, and he deserved all the preferential treatment.
One of the elders pointed at the gate of the sect's city wall.
"Please come with us. We will lead you to the special area so that you can take the core disciple assessment right away."
Miaomiao bitterly smiled as he had a sense of déjà vu once again. As Miaomiao never completed any event from the start to finish, he wanted to try everything for once.
"I heard from father that the assessment test doesn't discriminate cultivation ranks, but it tests one's basic knowledge and abilities as a swordsman. You see, I don't want to use my relationship to get ahead of others. I want to climb the ladder like everyone else. Please let me start out as an initiate, and I will climb the ranks with my strength."
Hearing the humble demands, the elders couldn't dislike Miaomiao. They nodded in approval.
"I bet no young master in Wu Dynasty Empire is as modest as you, Young Master Mao. Very well, we shall let you take the exams like everybody else. I'm sure you can reach the core disciple level in no time!"
"I will work hard to meet your expectations!"
The elders laughed and left him, ignoring the astonished looks of the players. Although the conversation was cringe-worthy, no one made fun of them as they thought of it as a game story cut-scene.
The three elders resumed their posts. They hovered over the crowd and resumed their proud demeanor.
"Welcome to the Celestial Sword Sect, aspiring cultivators!"
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