Continuous Missions

The Heavenly Tribulation Game had been open for over an hour. Although players were still entering one after another, there were no longer many people left in Novice Village—at the very least, far fewer than the sea of people there had been when the server first opened. Ye Luo also successfully found the Novice Village chief and received his second mission in the Heavenly Tribulation Game:

Deliver a Message (Novice Village Mission, Difficulty: F-Low)

Mission Details: Tell Aunt Li that her son is at Tailor Zhang's shop.

Mission Requirement: Within one hour.

Mission Rewards/Penalties: Some experience will be awarded upon successful completion.

Mission Type: 1 person.

F-Low was the simplest kind of Heavenly Tribulation mission. Ye Luo did not linger. After pulling up the map of Novice Village and figuring out the route, he headed straight for Aunt Li's house at a "mad dash," though his sluggish speed nearly made him cough up blood.

A few minutes later, Ye Luo finally arrived at Aunt Li's house and found the anxious woman. He immediately told her the news. Amid Aunt Li's repeated thanks, he heard the system prompt announcing the mission's completion. A ball of energy descended from the sky and merged into the Battle Soul Crystal in his mind.

"Heh, 10 experience points. No wonder no one wanted to do this mission—the experience reward is too low. Other people could get this much just by casually killing a small toad, while I had to waste several minutes." Ye Luo smiled bitterly inwardly, then looked at his experience bar. "I still need to do six more missions like this to level up. My life really is miserable."

"Ye Luo Zhi Qiu, thank you for telling me where Mao Tou is. But I have something to deal with and can't leave right now. Could you bring him back for me?" Aunt Li asked, looking at Ye Luo expectantly.

A follow-up mission! Ye Luo's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly accepted the mission and its token, thinking, I've heard that chained missions offer better rewards than ordinary missions, and I won't have to keep running around looking for new missions. Only an idiot would turn it down.

With that thought, Ye Luo bid Aunt Li farewell and rushed nonstop toward Tailor Zhang's shop. After taking out the mission token, he quickly gained Tailor Zhang's trust and smoothly began escorting Mao Tou back to Aunt Li's house.

After spending several more minutes, Ye Luo finally delivered Mao Tou home. To his delight, this mission's reward was indeed far more generous than the first. He received a full 20 energy experience points and 2 points of Novice Village favorability. What pleased him even more was that Aunt Li still had another follow-up mission.

This time, Aunt Li asked Ye Luo to retrieve the three sickles Uncle Li had commissioned from Blacksmith Sun a few days ago. The difficulty was still F-Low, making it another simple errand mission. Ye Luo did not stop and immediately set off again.

He soon retrieved the sickles from Blacksmith Sun and also received another mission:

Collect Wolf Fangs (Novice Village Mission, Difficulty: F-High)

Mission Details: Kill Young Demon Wolves in Demon Wolf Valley outside Novice Village's North Gate, then bring 20 wolf fangs back to Blacksmith Sun.

Mission Requirement: Within three days.

Mission Type: Unlimited.

Mission Rewards/Penalties: Upon completion, receive generous experience and some money. If more than 40 wolf fangs are brought back, there is also a chance of receiving a piece of equipment crafted by Blacksmith Sun from wolf fangs.

Mission Hint: Young Demon Wolves are level 10 monsters and quite ferocious. Please proceed with caution.

"Tsk, tsk, it finally isn't an F-Low mission. The reward is generous experience and some money. That's pretty interesting." Ye Luo muttered to himself, but after seeing the mission hint, he frowned slightly. "But Young Demon Wolves are level 10 monsters. With my godawful stats, I'll probably only stand a chance after reaching level 10."

"Sigh, level 10. That's still a long way off." Ye Luo sighed. During this time, he checked the Novice Village level rankings and discovered that some players were already level 8. He sighed again. "Someone is already level 8, while I haven't even reached level 1. Comparing people really can drive you mad. If I'd known, I wouldn't have accepted that Heavenly Tribulation Trial Mission."

"Oh, right. The village chief knows more than anyone else in Novice Village. When I have time, I can ask him about that trial. Maybe I'll discover something."

Thinking this, Ye Luo continued running toward Aunt Li's house.

Along the way, Ye Luo checked the attributes of the sickles, and immediately felt like crying again.

Farm Sickle Crafted by Blacksmith Sun (Mission Item, Cannot Be Equipped)

Physical Attack: 10–10

Attack Interval: 3 seconds

It had a full 10 points of Physical Attack, while the Novice Sword had only 1 point of Attack. It was not even as good as a farming sickle. How could Ye Luo not feel like crying?

After sprinting all the way, Ye Luo finally reached Aunt Li's house. Once he handed over all the sickles, he received 40 energy experience points, 2 copper coins, and 4 points of Novice Village favorability. A flash of white light appeared, and he finally rose to level 1.

After reaching level 1, Ye Luo felt the Battle Soul Crystal become more solid and grow slightly larger. He also felt stronger than before. After putting all 5 free attribute points into Strength, his attack power became 9, his Defense rose to 3, and his HP became 120. He was now confident that he would no longer be bullied by Young Toads.

Thinking this, Ye Luo could not help wanting to find some Young Toads to vent his frustration on. However, Aunt Li called out to him again. She had another mission.

Naturally, Ye Luo would not refuse. He agreed readily.

This time, Aunt Li asked Ye Luo to retrieve several straw hats she had ordered from Tailor Zhang a few days ago. On the way, he grumbled inwardly, This game really is ridiculous. Why didn't I pick up the straw hats while I was getting Mao Tou? Isn't this just wasting my time?

Though he thought so, Ye Luo was not slow in his movements. He was actually looking forward to receiving several more follow-up missions.

From Aunt Li's three missions, Ye Luo had figured out that the rewards for chained missions doubled each time. He had received 40 energy experience points for retrieving the sickles, which meant that retrieving the straw hats would earn him 80 experience points.

Based on his previous experience of killing Young Toads in a party, killing one alone would grant 10 experience points. Eighty experience points meant killing eight Young Toads, which was quite a lot. More importantly, the experience rewards from future follow-up missions would keep increasing.

As he thought this, Ye Luo checked how much experience was needed for the next level. He was instantly dumbfounded, because reaching level 2 required a full 1,500 energy experience points.

"Heavens, 1,500 points? Doesn't that mean I need to kill 150 Young Toads?" Thinking about killing so many toads gave Ye Luo a headache. Soon, he realized something. "It looks like relying on monsters of the same level to level up isn't realistic. I still need to kill monsters above my level. I've heard that the Heavenly Tribulation Game gives extra rewards for killing monsters above your level, which would make leveling much easier."

"But monsters need to be at least three levels higher than the player before there is an experience bonus. For someone like me..." Thinking of his terrible stats, Ye Luo decisively stopped considering the idea of killing monsters above his level.

While thinking about this, Ye Luo arrived at Tailor Zhang's house. He easily collected the straw hats and also received a combat mission there, one he could currently complete.

Collect Toad Skins (Novice Village Mission, Difficulty: F-Medium)

Mission Details: Kill Young Toads at Toad Slope outside Novice Village's South Gate and obtain 100 Toad Skins.

Mission Requirement: Before the game character reaches level 5.

Mission Type: Solo.

Mission Rewards/Penalties: Upon completion, receive some experience, money, and a piece of novice equipment.

Killing Young Toads was no longer particularly difficult for Ye Luo. He was also happy to kill these monsters to vent the resentment from having been bullied earlier. Besides, the mission reward included not only experience and money, but also a piece of novice equipment—something he desperately needed right now. After all, he could not count on his trash stats to kill monsters above his level; he could only rely on equipment.

Thinking that he would soon obtain a piece of novice equipment, Ye Luo was full of motivation. He sprinted toward Aunt Li's house as fast as he could, quickly turned in the mission, and received exactly what he had expected: 80 energy experience points, 8 copper coins, and 8 points of Novice Village favorability.

Although 80 energy experience points increased his experience bar somewhat, Ye Luo still had a long way to go before reaching level 2. Aside from the experience, he also noticed the copper coins and 8 points of Novice Village favorability he had received.

Actually, when he completed Aunt Li's second mission, he had already gained 2 points of Novice Village favorability. Including the previous two times, his favorability in Novice Village had now reached 14 points, while he had accumulated 10 copper coins.

"I didn't receive a mission the first time I visited Tailor Zhang's shop, but I got the Toad Skin collection mission the second time. It must be because of my Novice Village favorability." Ye Luo quickly realized this. It seems favorability is very helpful for receiving missions. I should accumulate more of it in the future.

With that thought, Ye Luo was about to leave and complete the mission Tailor Zhang had given him, but Aunt Li stopped him again. Her tone was somewhat urgent. "Hero Ye Luo Zhi Qiu, my husband was accidentally poisoned by a snake while he was out. Could I trouble you to bring back a Major Detoxification Pill from Doctor Hua? If you can do it, I'll give you triple the reward!"

"Saving lives admits no delay, Aunt Li. Wait for me." Hearing this, Ye Luo did not hesitate. After accepting the mission, he immediately sprinted toward Doctor Hua's residence.

Seven or eight minutes later, Ye Luo arrived at Doctor Hua's place. After explaining the situation, Doctor Hua's expression turned grave, his face full of difficulty.

"Doctor Hua, saving a life cannot be delayed. Please give me the Detoxification Pill so I can go back and save him." Ye Luo said, but Doctor Hua's reaction told him that things would not be so simple.

"It's not that I refuse to save him, but I am currently short on a medicinal herb. This old man is frail with age and cannot go to the Poisonous Swamp outside the West Gate to gather herbs, so..." Doctor Hua looked at Ye Luo, his meaning obvious.

Ye Luo's eyes lit up. He knew there was a mission. He immediately declared with confidence, "Doctor Hua, leave this matter to me. I guarantee that I'll gather the medicinal herb and bring it back to you. Tell me, what herb are you missing?"

"Cassia Seed," Doctor Hua said. But as if recalling something, he frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, you do not know Herb Gathering yet, and the Poisonous Swamp is filled with poisonous miasma and venomous snakes. The monsters there are over level 20. With your current strength, going there would merely be going to your death, so..."

"This..." Thinking of his trash stats, Ye Luo found himself in a difficult position.