One Gold, Three Purple: The Yao Family

One Gold, Three Purple: The Yao Family

Yang Shan, a dignified online pianist, had been left so stumped by a single question that he did not even know where to throw his keyboard.

Fencing?

This burly man was clearly wielding the Endless Blade—high attack, high critical hit rate.

If they so much as bumped into each other, would he not be reduced to scraps? Yang Shan smiled rather stiffly.

It could not be helped. The timing of his return was far too delicate, and Yang Shan had not prepared a strategy for this part.

There was still a gold quest waiting for him in the city.

If he could not get through this hurdle, he would be dragged off to the Pang Family or the Chai Family. Not only would that waste time, but he would also lose his chance to join the Mittel Yunshuang Branch! What was he supposed to do? He was already sweating buckets. Yang Shan's gaze swept back and forth, hoping to spot something that would inspire a way out.

Suddenly, he saw the burly man's clearly outlined chest, squeezed tight by his low-cut fitted shirt.

Only then did Yang Shan suddenly realize.

This version had not yet implemented "Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya's Friendship"! That meant anything related to this feature was a "sensitive area" for the system! Yang Shan gave a wicked smile, his mouth crooked like some Dragon King's. "If you let this brother here rent a room with me at the Drunken Fragrance Inn in the city, and then XXXX, so that I can XXXX, followed by XXXXX..."

Yang Shan spoke faster and faster.

Pang Yan and Chai Wenjing's faces grew paler and paler. Ten seconds later, every NPC before Yang Shan fled in panic.

A test paper of black print on white paper appeared in Yang Shan's hand.

Title:

"Online Health Questionnaire"! A one-hundred-point questionnaire with fifty multiple-choice questions.

Yang Shan barely passed with exactly sixty points.

One more point would have been disrespectful to yellow!

After submitting the questionnaire, Yang Shan could finally play normally again!

No one could stop him now!

Yang Shan successfully entered the city and hurried straight to the Mercenary Guild.

The Mite'er Family was one of the Jia Ma Empire's three great families. Even if it was merely the Cloud Frost City branch, establishing a connection with it would not be easy.

Yang Shan had to gain at least 10 points of favorability with one of Cloud Frost City's higher-ups.

As it happened, the gold quest at Cloud Frost City's Mercenary Guild had been posted by a high-ranking member of the Mittel Yunshuang Branch!

Cloud Frost City's Mercenary Guild was built on a grand scale.

It covered more than eight hundred square meters and had three floors.

After entering the hall, Yang Shan skillfully took a number.

Quite a few NPCs in the Mercenary Guild were handling business.

Most were Dou Zhe.

There were relatively few at the Dou Shi level.

The Jia Ma Empire was, after all, only one of the empires on the Northwest Continent, located in a remote region with a rather low level cap.

Even among the empire's ten strongest experts, quite a few were only Dou Wang.

A Da Dou Shi could already become the head of a great family.

Thus, even an unremarkable Dou Shi held a certain degree of status among the common folk of the Jia Ma Empire.

They could even lead a small mercenary group.

On the wall at the very front of the hall were the currently available mercenary quests.

The first line, "Qingfeng Bird Egg," was gold!

The three quests from the second through fourth lines were purple.

The quests after that were blue, green, and white.

The five colors represented the value of the quests.

Gold was the highest, and white the lowest.

At the Mercenary Guild in any town, gold quests had a "tiny" chance of refreshing at irregular intervals.

The reward for a gold quest could even be an "overpowered top-tier item" slightly beyond the current version! In his previous life, every gold quest had been enough to make the top experts of every major faction fight desperately over it.

Purple quests, meanwhile, refreshed in fixed batches of one to three every month of game time.

Blue, green, and white quests basically refreshed continuously.

Though his memories of the game's launch had grown hazy, Yang Shan still remembered many major events.

When the game had first launched, only Cloud Frost City among the five cities in the northeastern Jia Ma Empire had received a gold quest.

The other four cities had only received purple quests.

The second gold quest to appear among the five northeastern cities had been in Wutan City.

But that had happened two months later.

When his turn came, Yang Shan stepped up to the counter.

The NPC handling business was exceptionally pretty. Her large, watery eyes looked at Yang Shan with a hint of shyness.

After staring for around five seconds, the young clerk finally said somewhat flusteredly, "Sorry, handsome. I... I got lost looking at you. Would you like to accept a quest or submit one?"

NPC clerks at places like the Mercenary Guild, Alchemist Guild, and Auction House were all high-attractiveness NPCs generated by AI from Tianyao Group's database.

Even the queues were deliberately arranged so female clerks served male players, while male clerks served female players.

They opened with "handsome" or "beautiful," all while wearing utterly sincere expressions.

Every word conveyed amazement at the player's appearance.

What player could withstand that kind of routine? Once the Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya's Friendship System was implemented, players who were feeling restless and could afford the not-too-expensive "rental fee" could even ask NPCs out after work, find an inn with a nice environment, and discuss life! A virtual online game linked through brainwaves emphasized sensory realism! The experience was utterly intoxicating.

In his previous life, countless players had fallen deep into it and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After all, taking a lovely clerk NPC like the one before him out for a romantic night cost only eighty-eight RMB.

The sensations were real, the looks were on point, the service was excellent, and there was no fear of kidney deficiency.

How was Tian Yao Company making money?

It was practically doing charity! No wonder that one year after the public beta of "Battle Through the Heavens," it had been reported by so many ill-intentioned people demanding the removal of such paid services.

What killed instant noodles was not competitors, but food delivery.

And what killed bathhouses was not competitors either, but "Battle Through the Heavens"! Yet at this moment, Yang Shan was like a sage after the deed and did not even spare the clerk NPC before him a second glance.

Before a gold quest, what did a beautiful NPC even matter? Beautiful women would only slow down his quest progress! At the very least, he had to finish the quest before asking her out!

"Miss, I want to accept the Qingfeng Bird Egg and Bamboo Snake Gall quests."

"Qingfeng Bird Egg" was the sole gold quest, while "Bamboo Snake Gall" was a purple quest.

The pretty young clerk looked a little troubled.

"Normally, one person can only accept one quest at a time."

Yang Shan pretended to be disappointed.

"Is that so? What a pity. I want to take both quests."

As he spoke, Yang Shan took out five Spirit Stones and quietly placed them on the counter. "Miss, make an exception for me. I'll treat you to dinner sometime."

"Battle Through the Heavens" placed great importance on players' authentic experiences.

So rules were rules.

But they were only rules.

Most rules could be circumvented or broken.

"Fine. It's not for the Spirit Stones. Since you're handsome, I'll make an exception for you this time."

The pretty young clerk deftly took the Spirit Stones, then said solemnly:

"Handsome, if you want to accept two quests at the same time, you'll need to pay a considerable deposit first. And the time limits for the quests will be drastically shortened."

Yang Shan said, "It's fine. Process it for me."

In the early game, accepting two mercenary quests at once was already the limit.

The pretty young clerk said, "All right. That'll be fifty Spirit Stones as a deposit."

Naturally, there was a hefty price for getting around the rules.

Fifty Spirit Stones was already half of a player's starting capital.

If he failed the quests, it would deal a serious blow to his early development.

Of course, high risk came with high rewards.

Detailed descriptions for two quests had appeared on Yang Shan's quest list.

Qingfeng Bird Egg (Gold, Unique)

Quest Description: Madam Yao of the Yao Family in the city is pregnant and needs an egg from a Second-Order Magical Beast Qingfeng Bird, the King of Beasts, to stabilize the pregnancy.

Quest Reward: One Yellow Rank High-Level Cultivation Method (Gold), attribute selectable.

Time Limit: Five in-game days (twenty-four real hours).

Bamboo Snake Gall (Purple)

Quest Description: Master Yao of the Yao Family in the city is an old lecher. While his wife is pregnant, he has been fooling around everywhere, leaving him severely kidney-deficient. He needs the gallbladders of one hundred First-Order Magical Beast Green Bamboo Snakes, elites, to replenish his kidneys.

Quest Reward: Fine Weapon (Purple, style selectable).

Time Limit: Three in-game days.

The difficulty of Mercenary Guild quests was determined by the current overall level of players, as were the rewards.

Cultivation methods were naturally a tier more valuable than Dou Skills.

A Yellow Rank High-Level Cultivation Method was even more precious than a Mysterious Rank Low-Level Dou Skills.

Moreover, the "gold" in the parentheses carried extraordinary significance!

Just as in the original novel, there were differences in strength even within the same realm.

Four Star Dou Zong Xiao Yan could hang up and beat Five Star Dou Zong Ling Quan of the Ancient Clan! In the game, levels, cultivation methods, Dou Skills, and equipment also varied in quality within the same rank.

Tian Yao Company reflected these differences through panel labels and the colors emitted by the text.

Like quests, they were divided into white, green, blue, purple, and gold.

Anything marked in gold was the pinnacle of its tier, no matter what it was!

A gold-marked Yellow Rank High-Level Cultivation Method was basically twice as strong in attributes as a white-marked one! Fine Weapons also stood above the ordinary standardized weapons from blacksmith shops.

A purple Fine Weapon would be impressive even in the hands of a Dou Shi, let alone a Dou Zhe!

If he completed these two quests, Yang Shan would absolutely have a smooth ride in this launch version! In his previous life, players had shared every detail of the gold and purple quests in the five northeastern cities of the Jia Ma Empire on the forums.

At the time, Yang Shan had read those posts over and over, word by word, with reddened eyes.

While he summarized shortcuts for completing the quests from the posts, he also beat his chest in frustration over why he had not had such damned luck.

So even though three years had passed, Yang Shan still remembered these quests very clearly.

When Yang Shan took the quest map and confirmed that the two quest locations were extremely close, he let out a sigh of relief.

His memory had not been wrong. This was in the bag!

Three hours after Yang Shan left the Mercenary Guild, a broad-shouldered, burly man walked in, grumbling nonstop.

"Those two NPCs started getting handsy right away. They were definitely trying to steal my kidneys. Luckily, I was clever enough to say I needed the toilet, then slipped out through the back door. Hehe..."

When he saw the two conspicuous purple lines at the top of the quest board in front of the hall, the burly man became wildly excited. "Holy shit, purple quests written about in the Player Handbook!"

The burly man rushed to the counter. "Miss, I'm here to accept a quest!"

When the pretty clerk saw the burly man's muscular body, her eyes practically glowed green! Ten minutes later, the burly man left the Mercenary Guild with a flushed face and pigeon-toed steps, muttering:

"The Mercenary Guild NPCs are this open too? Could it be those two beauties at the city gate were not trying to hurt me? Damn, did I miss something?"

The burly man felt somewhat regretful, but after looking at the two purple quests he had accepted, he tossed that bad mood aside.

Trading his explosive chest muscles for two purple quests was a massive profit! White Leaf Return (Purple)

Quest Description: Xiao Juan, the new concubine Master Yao of the Yao Family recently took in, wants to become pregnant quickly to secure her position. She needs the Grade Two medicinal herb White Leaf Return to improve her Constitution.

Quest Reward: Yellow Rank Mid-Level Cultivation Method (Purple).

Man Bull Root (Purple)

Quest Description: The eldest young master of the Yao Family wants to help Xiao Juan conceive as soon as possible. He needs the old bull root of a Second-Order Magical Beast Man Bull, an elite, to soak in wine.

Quest Reward: Fine Weapon (Purple, style selectable).