Chapter 16: The Hidden Rules of Task Rewards

Chapter 16: The Hidden Rules of Task Rewards

Under the cover of the Invisible Veil, Lu Heng stealthily approached the Clawhorn Demon from behind and gripped the Aurora Blade, thrusting it into the demon's back.

Pfft!

The sharp blade pierced through the demon's back, emerging from its chest.

The Clawhorn Demon let out a piercing shriek, attempting a final counterattack in its dying moments.

Lu Heng activated his Lightning Weapon, and a surge of electricity coursed up the blade, paralyzing the demon's body. He then took the opportunity to slice open its chest cavity, finishing it off.

[Slaying a Clawhorn Demon, absorbed 20 points of Demon Energy.]



Roar! Roar!

Almost simultaneously, two angry roars echoed.

The Scout Eagle appeared in mid-air, directly pinpointing the location of one of the Invisible Horn Demons.

Lu Heng drew the Aurora Blade and rushed towards the eagle's position.

He executed the Mooncut Technique from the Seven Segment Sword Technique, unleashing a dazzling flash of sword light.

The sharp blade slashed horizontally, and a trail of blood shot up from what was previously an empty space.

The first Invisible Horn Demon fell with a painful cry.

Immediately after.

The Scout Eagle swiftly moved, flying towards Su Muyu's direction.

Seeing this, Lu Heng realized that the second Invisible Horn Demon was about to attack Su Muyu. He quickly gave chase.

With the Scout Eagle's tracking, Su Muyu kept her eyes fixed on the second demon's position. When she saw it charging towards her, she immediately entered an invisible state and hid.

The second Invisible Horn Demon clearly lacked the ability to detect invisibility. After losing its target, it started running around aimlessly but was always locked onto by the Scout Eagle.

Lu Heng caught up and delivered a Mountain Split, splitting the demon in two.

With three kills, he sheathed his sword.

The high attack power of the weapon made all the difference; one sword stroke per demon, and there was no need for a second strike, making it extremely satisfying.

As the two Invisible Horn Demons fell, two data prompts popped up consecutively:

[Slaying a Demon, absorbed 20 points of Demon Energy.]



[Slaying a Demon, absorbed 20 points of Demon Energy.]



[Demon Energy enhancement level, Essence Energy level increased to 5, all Attributes +1, Agility Attribute additional +0.3]



Su Muyu only emerged from her invisible state after confirming that there were no other Abyssal monsters nearby.

"Did you absorb any Demon Energy?" Lu Heng asked.

"Yes, I leveled up twice and am already at level 3. It's so amazing," Su Muyu smiled and nodded, feeling that this leveling experience was incredibly unique.

Her five-dimensional attributes had increased to: Strength 9, Agility 10, Constitution 10, Spirit 14 (13+1), and Perception 14.

Out of the 14 points in Spirit, 1 point was added by the Energy Crystal Bracelet.

"That's good," Lu Heng turned to collect the loot.

When they had killed the three Horned Demons earlier, there hadn't been time to pick up the Demon Crystal Cores.

Now, as he picked them up to examine them, two Crystal Cores emerged from the demons.

One was an ordinary Crystal Core, and the other was a Skill Crystal Core.

Upon seeing the name of this Skill Crystal Core, Lu Heng's eyes lit up.

[Gale Step Crystal Core: Absorb the energy of the Crystal Core, and there's a chance to learn the 'Gale Step' skill.]



[Gale Step: Release energy into your legs, gaining a gale-like running speed. Running Speed +80%. Skill Cost: 3 Essence Energy/minute. Skill Level: D-Rank.]



This Gale Step Crystal Core had dropped from the Clawhorn Demon, which meant that this demon likely possessed this skill.

If the Clawhorn Demon had been allowed to run earlier, its 180% running speed would have made it impossible to catch.

Among the acceleration skills available during the initial stages of the Abyssal Descent, Gale Step was the most useful one.

Lu Heng directly used the Gale Step Crystal Core, absorbing the energy within.

The crystal core's energy flowed into his body and condensed into an energy ball in the third skill slot.

Having successfully learned the Gale Step skill, Lu Heng picked up the Narnia Crystal and returned to Forge Castle to report.

...

On their way back, they happened to pass by the excavation site for Ignition Ore.

Lu Heng tried the mining task and found it to be a physically demanding job. To mine enough Ignition Ore, it would take at least four to five days.

Lu Heng decided to give up and return to Forge Castle.

As they entered the castle, they unexpectedly encountered the scholarly youth, Chen Zihan.

He seemed mentally exhausted, likely because he had just located the castle's position and had endured a day of psychic contamination from the Abyss the previous day, leaving him in a state of mental distress.

Grumble, upon seeing Lu Heng and his companion returning with the Narnia Crystal, happily approached them: "Great! It's indeed the Narnia Crystal. Thank you so much."

He took the crystal and hurried into the castle, not having time to greet Chen Zihan.

Chen Zihan was even more astonished: "You..."

Lu Heng knew what he wanted to ask: "We arrived last night."

Chen Zihan paused for a moment, then said, "Hu Biao's group is almost at their limit.

Lu Heng looked at him curiously and asked, "Do you want to save them?"

This was a question that tested one's humanity, but not saving them didn't necessarily make one cold-blooded.

Lu Heng had experienced those three years, and had witnessed too many cruel things firsthand.

Besides those with deep emotional bonds, he would never know if the ones he saved were farmers or snakes.

Humans could only talk about humanity when their survival was guaranteed; otherwise, only their animal instincts remained.

Chen Zihan spread his hands, not giving a clear answer, "I'm not sure either. There are a few people in that group that I can't stand."

Lu Heng considered for a moment and finally decided to save Hu Biao's group.

It wasn't about being a good person, but keeping this group around for their usefulness.

"Tell me their location," Lu Heng asked.

"Head northeast for about three kilometers from the castle gate," Chen Zihan pointed out.

Lu Heng found a piece of paper, wrote a few words, and then let Su Muyu control the scout eagle to find people with the note in its beak.

...

About half an hour passed.

Hu Biao, along with three others, arrived at the castle.

As soon as the four of them entered the castle gate, they fell to the ground, panting heavily. They had reached their limit.

Their team originally had fifteen people, but now only four remained.

Grumble saw more people entering and became flustered, "So many burdens have come, this is bad. The castle's location will definitely be discovered by that Horned Demon Commander, we must evacuate quickly!"

Seeing his expression, he was considering driving Hu Biao's group out of the castle.

Lu Heng offered a suggestion, "Digging for ignition ore is time-consuming. I think they can help with that."

Grumble listened and thought it was a good idea. He said, "Alright, you can stay in the castle, but before nightfall tomorrow, you must dig up a sufficient amount of ignition ore, or I'll have to kick you out."

Hu Biao's group was startled at the thought of being kicked out and became flustered, quickly agreeing, "We're willing to mine, and we'll definitely dig up enough ore on time."

Grumble pointed at Lu Heng with his finger, reminding him, "There's also the crystal."

"I'll take care of that," Lu Heng assured.

Grumble was very satisfied with this arrangement and turned to walk into the castle's central hall, starting to tinker with a strange large machine.

...

Hu Biao's group drank some water and ate a little, slightly recovering their stamina.

In the afternoon, Grumble urged them to hurry and mine.

As the four of them had mostly recovered their spirits, they took the tools to the mine.

After working for a short while, they realized that this mining task required a lot of strength.

Among the four, Huang Mao, the thug, was naturally unwilling to do manual labor and began complaining to Hu Biao, "Brother Biao, I see another task in the list, which is to find crystals. I think the reward for finding crystals is better."

Hu Biao frowned, feeling the same way, but he shook his head, "Since we're assigned to mine, let's just do it. As long as we can hold on until tomorrow night, it'll be enough for three days."

Seeing that Hu Biao had made his stance clear, Huang Mao didn't say anything more and continued mining silently.

After returning to Forge Castle in the evening and having dinner...

Lu Heng retrieved the second Narnia Crystal, and Grumble's attitude towards Lu Heng became even more enthusiastic than before, clearly showing an increase in favorability.

Huang Mao saw this and became even more upset, speaking in a sarcastic tone, "We can also see the crystal collection task, why can't we do anything but mine?"

His voice was loud enough for Lu Heng to hear, intentionally.

Lu Heng glanced at him and replied coldly, "There's one more crystal to collect. Tomorrow, you can come and take it if you want."

The reward for the Narnia Crystal collection task was displayed as "Grumble's Gratitude".

For tasks without specific reward items, the rewards had a high degree of freedom.

When Lu Heng chose the Aurora Blade, he was just borrowing the weapon.

At the time, Grumble had said that if he could retrieve three Narnia Crystals, he would offer the Aurora Blade as a reward.

This was equivalent to specifying the reward.

However, rewards were also graded, and the more perfectly the task was completed, the higher the reward.

Through communication with Grumble, a hidden task rule could be confirmed: Collect all three crystals perfectly, and the reward is the Aurora Blade.

Therefore, Lu Heng needed to obtain all three Narnia Crystals.

If Huang Mao dared to come and take it, there was nothing more to say.

Since he could save him, he could also send him off.

Hearing the murderous tone in Lu Heng's voice, Hu Biao quickly waved his hands, "We didn't mean it that way. We'll mine properly, don't take it to heart."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end