Jade Poison Bead Fragment

Looking at Yue Gao Feng Hei and the other two, who were awaiting death, Ye Luo hesitated slightly before asking, "You're professional assassins, right? I suppose you won't tell us who assigned you this mission?"

Ye Ban San Geng nodded. "Sorry, but that's the most basic professional ethic in our line of work."

"Then forget it. You can leave." Ye Luo waved a hand. Seeing the stunned expressions on Ye Ban San Geng and the others, he said irritably, "You don't seem to have any particularly good equipment on you. There's no way I'd risk getting a red name just to kill you."

Ye Luo had also heard Yan Hua Yi Leng explain the Red name punishment. He did not want it to affect his leveling, especially since leveling was crucial during the early stages of the game.

"Heh, Brother Ye Luo is straightforward. Fine, we'll meet again someday." Ji Ming Gou Dao laughed, waving as he called Yue Gao Feng Hei and the others away. They left with considerable ease.

"Why didn't you kill them?" Yan Hua Yi Leng asked. Though she sounded puzzled, her tone remained as cold as ever. "You don't seem like someone afraid of offending them."

"There was no need. Killing them would only make them lose a level, and they'd regain it soon enough." Ye Luo's tone shifted. "Besides, it's best not to offend people from assassin organizations if possible. I'm not afraid of them, but being hounded by them would be troublesome. Leveling up is the most important thing in the early game."

Yan Hua Yi Leng nodded and said nothing more, continuing toward their target this time—the Demonized Scorpions.

Before long, Ye Luo and his group saw the Demonized Scorpion's stats:

Demonized Scorpion (Normal Monster)

Level: 15

Physical Attack: 50–60

Defense: 100

HP: 3000

Description: An ordinary monster from Novice Village. Naturally vicious, it attacks proactively and prefers to live in groups.

To other players, the Demonized Scorpion's attack and defense were both extremely high. Facing even one was already the limit, but to Yan Hua Yi Leng and Ye Luo, it was nothing. They could even kill them with ease.

It was the usual arrangement: Yan Hua Yi Leng was responsible for drawing aggro, while Ye Luo handled positioning and interception. Under the 20% slow from Ice Spirit Power, those scorpions could not catch Yan Hua Yi Leng at all. They were even noticeably slower than Ye Luo.

Thus, a strange scene appeared outside the North Gate of Novice Village: a girl holding a bow retreated while attacking scorpions, while the scorpions relentlessly pursued her. Behind them, a swordsman swung a Novice Iron Sword and attacked to his heart's content.

Although Ye Luo's attack was much higher than Yan Hua Yi Leng's, the ice damage added by her Ice Spirit Power skill and Flying Snow Robe was extremely high. Combined with the Wolf Fang Bow's innate piercing trait, which increased damage by 10%, she dealt far more damage to the Demonized Scorpions than Ye Luo did. She did not have to worry about aggro shifting.

Under the combined assault of Slash, normal attacks, and Combo Attack, the Demonized Scorpion instantly lost over 1,000 HP. Just as it tried to switch targets, Yan Hua Yi Leng's Frozen Arrow arrived. With several more ordinary attacks, a Demonized Scorpion died without dealing even a trace of damage to the two of them.

"Now that our equipment has improved, there's no pressure at all when fighting monsters fifteen levels above us. With our strength, we can handle two at once," Ye Luo said, the frustration of being bullied by a level 1 Toad completely gone.

"These are only normal monsters, the weakest kind in the Heavenly Tribulation Game. The two of us can be considered experts, so killing them easily is hardly surprising." Yan Hua Yi Leng spoke calmly as she raised the long bow in her hand. "Our equipment is far better than other players', and we're nearly fully equipped. Others aren't as fortunate as we are."

After thinking for a moment, Ye Luo understood what she meant. The two of them had been fortunate enough to acquire several pieces of equipment, then expanded their advantage like a snowball, obtaining several Bronze-grade pieces and moving ahead of most players. That was why they could kill monsters so easily.

"Of course, the biggest reason is that I took up this Hidden Profession. With Ice Spirit Power, we can kill monsters without taking damage. Otherwise, we'd have to consume a great deal of medicine." Yan Hua Yi Leng analyzed the situation calmly before looking at Ye Luo. "Of course, even without me, you could level up easily with anyone else. After all, you have an endless supply of medicine."

With Ice Spirit Power's slow and Yan Hua Yi Leng's high damage, Ye Luo could attack without restraint and without worrying about losing even a single point of HP. This undoubtedly increased their monster-killing efficiency significantly.

Ye Luo nodded. He knew Yan Hua Yi Leng's analysis was correct, and he also knew she was not flaunting her advantages, merely stating the facts. So he was not angry and continued killing monsters.

"Ding~"

After they killed another Demonized Scorpion, a crisp sound rang out.

Based on Ye Luo's experience killing monsters, this was not the sound of Gold Coins or quest items dropping. It was the sound of equipment dropping. His spirits immediately rose, and he hurriedly picked up the loot. When he saw the item's stats, he froze:

Jade Poison Bead (Fragment)

Item Description: A Jade Poison Bead fragment formed after a poisonous monster dies, drawn together by a strange force. Collect 100 fragments to fuse them into a complete Jade Poison Bead.

"Not bad. I didn't expect these scorpions to drop Jade Poison Beads too." Ye Luo was delighted, but after thinking about it, he understood. Scorpions and toads were both among the Five Poisons. Since the Toad King could drop a complete Jade Poison Bead, it was hardly strange for higher-level scorpions to drop Jade Poison Bead fragments.

"What dropped that surprised you so much?" Yan Hua Yi Leng asked.

Ye Luo traded the Jade Poison Bead fragment to Yan Hua Yi Leng, then displayed an illustrated item card of the completed Jade Poison Bead's stats for her.

When she saw the Jade Poison Bead's stats, Yan Hua Yi Leng's beautiful eyes brightened slightly, a rare occurrence. "I didn't expect you to have such a special item. The initial-stage Jade Poison Bead's stats may not be much, but it has the advantage of being an extra equipment slot. It's extremely rare."

"Also, I've heard that Magic Treasure-type items undergo a qualitative leap with every rank increase. I hope you can rank it up soon," Yan Hua Yi Leng added.

"I want to rank it up soon too, but it takes three Jade Poison Beads to do that. It'll take a lot of effort." Ye Luo looked at the Demonized Scorpions. "You saw it too. We killed more than ten scorpions to get one fragment. Gathering 100 of them? Heh, that probably won't be possible even in a day."

Yan Hua Yi Leng nodded, knowing Ye Luo was right. Then she seemed to think of something. "The bead in your hand should have been dropped by the Toad King. Bosses in Novice Village respawn every twelve hours. There are still three hours and twenty minutes until it respawns, so you can head there early and get another one."

Without waiting for Ye Luo to speak, she continued, "Toads are only level 1 monsters. Few experts would camp there, especially when no one knows about the Jade Poison Bead. No one will be able to compete with you."

"Hehe, that's true." Ye Luo smiled sheepishly, then his expression hardened. "At worst, I'll go once every twelve hours. Sooner or later, I'll gather three of them and raise it to Rank 2."

"Getting it to Rank 2 won't be difficult, but raising it higher will probably be hard. After all, further advancement requires three Rank 2 Jade Poison Beads, which means nine initial-stage Jade Poison Beads," Yan Hua Yi Leng said flatly.

"Uh, this..." Ye Luo was stunned, then gave a bitter smile. "It seems unrealistic to raise the Jade Poison Bead to a very high rank. I wonder whether higher-level monsters can drop Rank 2 or even higher-ranked Jade Poison Beads."

"They probably can, but they would have to be boss-level monsters, and they must possess the Poison Attribute. It will still be very difficult to rank it up." Yan Hua Yi Leng's tone shifted. "But Magic Treasure-type items are all powerful. The Heavenly Tribulation Game naturally wouldn't let them level up easily. Otherwise, the game's balance would be disrupted."

"That's true." Ye Luo nodded and spread his hands. "I'll just leave it to fate, like my Heavenly Tribulation Trial Mission. I still don't have the slightest clue about it."

"I can't analyze anything about your Heavenly Tribulation Trial Mission either, since there's simply no information to analyze." Yan Hua Yi Leng looked at the Jade Poison Bead fragment in her hand. "But I can infer something from this fragment. Maybe we can greatly increase this fragment's drop rate."

Hearing that, Ye Luo paused before hurriedly recalling the fragment's description. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he blurted out, "Drawn together by a strange force. That's right, that line! But what kind of force is this strange force? Could it be..."

"It can only be the Jade Poison Bead on you." Yan Hua Yi Leng began analyzing. "You dealt the final blow to that scorpion earlier. Maybe that's the condition for forming a Jade Poison Bead fragment."

Ye Luo thought back and nodded. "That's right. We killed more than ten scorpions, and it seemed only the last one was finished by me. Maybe it really is as you guessed."

"We'll know if we try." Yan Hua Yi Leng drew her bow and fired, pulling over a Demonized Scorpion and reducing it to critical health.

Seeing that, Ye Luo did not hold back. He swung his Novice Iron Sword, landing a critical hit, and the scorpion collapsed dead. However, to their disappointment, it did not drop a Jade Poison Bead fragment.

"Huh? Why didn't it drop a poison bead fragment? Were we wrong?" Ye Luo was stunned and looked at Yan Hua Yi Leng as if asking for an answer. Her brows were slightly furrowed, clearly puzzled as well.

"Since it isn't the final blow, then it's very likely the first blow. It seemed you were the one who pulled that scorpion over earlier." Yan Hua Yi Leng pondered for a moment, then looked at Ye Luo. "Try pulling a scorpion over yourself. You deal both the first and final blows."

Ye Luo nodded and targeted the nearest scorpion, unleashing his Combination Skill before enduring the scorpion's attacks head-on. More than twenty seconds later, the scorpion's HP was depleted and it died. At the spot where it fell lay a glowing orb—the Jade Poison Bead fragment.

"Hehe, so that really was it." Ye Luo smiled, barely able to contain his excitement. "Now we can get lots of Jade Poison Bead fragments. Ranking up the Jade Poison Bead is finally possible."