Mission Complete

"You were out of mana, weren't you?"

Wang Xian was utterly astonished.

Before the first Profession Advancement, no matter the profession, there was no such thing as automatic recovery while in combat.

Only after completing the first Profession Advancement would one gain the ability to automatically recover mana and HP during combat.

The amount recovered was related to Constitution and Mental Strength.

For every 100 points of Mental Strength and Constitution, one would recover 1 point of mana and HP per second respectively.

The recovery amount was low, but better than nothing.

Basically, no one cared about this recovery rate. After reaching the Main City, everyone would buy some mana potions and HP potions. Mana potions restored mana, while HP potions restored HP.

Although Hidden Professions automatically completed Profession Advancement, they still required one to reach level thirty.

Cheng Yao was only level 25. How could she possibly recover mana automatically while in combat?

"Hehe, Uncle, did you forget about this skill of mine?" Cheng Yao shared her Attribute Panel, pointed at a skill, and spoke with a giggle.

Flower Transfer Wood

HP and mana could be freely converted with no cooldown.

When taking damage, mana would be consumed first.

Wang Xian slapped his forehead. He had actually forgotten about Cheng Yao's skill.

"That's not right. Since you have this skill, why didn't you convert your HP into mana earlier?" Wang Xian raised a brow, thoroughly puzzled.

An embarrassed expression immediately appeared on Cheng Yao's face. She fidgeted and said, "I forgot!"

Wang Xian broke out in a cold sweat.

After all that, it was not just him who had forgotten—even the skill's owner had forgotten.

"Since you have mana, keep using Holy Strike to kill the monsters. I'll help you block the skills cast by the wraiths," Wang Xian immediately said.

Cheng Yao could convert HP into mana and cast skills again. He could not, so he could only serve as Cheng Yao's meat shield.

"Okay."

Cheng Yao immediately began acting. She continuously unleashed Holy Strike, killing the endless stream of wraiths.

But the good times did not last. A minute later, Cheng Yao let out a startled cry.

"Uncle, I'm out of mana."

"Aren't you at full HP? Keep converting it."

"The System Prompt says I can't keep converting."

"What do you mean, you can't keep converting?"

"It means I've already converted all my HP into mana. I have to leave combat before I can continue converting."

"Sigh! I knew there had to be a restriction."

Wang Xian sighed softly.

If Cheng Yao could freely convert mana and HP without limits, that would be far too broken.

Once she ran out of mana, she could leave herself a sliver of HP and convert the rest into mana, then heal herself and restore her HP to full.

Then she could keep converting HP into mana, keep healing herself, convert again, heal again...

That was a fucking perpetual-motion machine!

So, it was simply impossible to freely convert HP and mana forever.

"Uncle, what do we do now? I don't want to die yet. I've already wasted one death count."

Cheng Yao looked pitifully at Wang Xian.

The wraiths could not break Wang Xian's defense, but they could break hers. If Wang Xian could not think of a solution, she would die again.

"What else can we do? Just wait to die."

Wang Xian was completely unmoved by Cheng Yao's gaze and replied expressionlessly.

Death counts were important to others, but he was different. He knew some ways to obtain rewards that granted death counts. He could just find a way to get Cheng Yao some later.

"Uncle, you're so heartless!"

Cheng Yao's eyes widened as she glared angrily at Wang Xian.

"Go in peace!"

Seeing that Cheng Yao's HP was about to Zero, Wang Xian came to her side. Under her puzzled gaze, he raised his right hand, covered her eyes, and gently brushed over them, closing her wide-open eyes.

Cheng Yao: ...

"Uncle, I'm going to bite you to death!"

Cheng Yao was furious. She grabbed Wang Xian's hand and opened her mouth to bite it.

Wang Xian made no move to dodge, and his face even wore a smug expression.

He knew Cheng Yao would not be able to bite his hand, because her final sliver of HP would be completely Zeroed by the wraiths' attacks.

Suddenly, Wang Xian's expression froze!

Then...

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts! Let go already!"

Wang Xian let out a miserable scream. The smugness vanished from his face, replaced entirely by regret.

He had forgotten something else.

Cheng Yao still had Willow Dark Flower Bright's resurrection mark on her. The instant her HP had Zeroed, she had immediately revived, with her HP restored to full.

As a result, his right hand, which had made no attempt to dodge, ended up in Cheng Yao's mouth.

"Let go already!"

"Hmph!"

Cheng Yao ignored Wang Xian, snorted through her nose, and even shot him a glare.

Wang Xian: ...

After shaking his hand a few times and realizing that Cheng Yao was biting down hard, Wang Xian gave up.

Let her bite.

Other than hurting a little, it could not break his defense anyway.

Who told him to be so careless just now?

After that, Cheng Yao kept biting Wang Xian's hand. Whenever she was low on HP, she healed herself.

A few minutes later, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

Wang Xian and Cheng Yao swayed along with the shaking ground. Cheng Yao no longer had the mind to bite Wang Xian. After opening her mouth, she looked around in surprise and said, "An earthquake?"

Wang Xian shook his head. "Probably not. Look at the buildings over there. They aren't shaking at all."

The distant buildings showed no sign of movement. Only the area where they stood was trembling. Clearly, this was definitely not an earthquake.

"Awoo—ah—"

The surrounding wraiths let out miserable howls. They stopped attacking Wang Xian and Cheng Yao and began fleeing backward frantically.

But just as the wraiths began to move, branches sliced through the air and pierced their illusory bodies.

"Ah—"

Even more miserable wails rang out.

The wraiths screamed as they were reduced to ashes beneath the branches' attacks.

In an instant, the space within a hundred meters was completely cleared.

Beyond that hundred-meter radius, the wraiths continued wailing, yet none dared step into the area.

The ancient scholar tree!

Seeing this, Wang Xian immediately turned around and placed a hand on the ancient scholar tree.

Sure enough, the ancient scholar tree's status had changed. It had transformed from Epic Grade to Mythical Grade.

"Uncle, my mission is complete."

Nangong Wu appeared, her face full of excitement.

"It's good that it's complete." Wang Xian nodded and asked, "What's the reward?"

"I don't know. The mission says I should find the Ancient Shanyin Scholar Tree to claim the reward."

"Mm."

Wang Xian turned to look at the ancient scholar tree. He was very curious about how it would distribute the reward.

He also wanted to know what changes had occurred after this ancient scholar tree transformed from Epic Grade to Mythical Grade.

Suddenly, a flash of light swept past.

The enormous ancient scholar tree before them disappeared.

In its place stood a handsome young man in flowing green robes.

"So handsome!"

Cheng Yao and Su Jin spoke at the same time.

The other women did not speak, but the slight daze in their eyes showed that they too had been captivated by the handsome young man who had suddenly appeared.