Trial Mission

After passing the Infected, who looked crazed and had green gas wafting from their bodies, as well as the aircraft flying overhead and capturing them, Sun Busong soon reached the entrance to the actual trial grounds.

It was the entrance to a huge factory. As soon as he and the cat approached, the door sensed them and opened automatically.

"Now that's advanced! A sensor door, too. Come on, little kitty. From now on, we're in this together, through life and death. Once we go inside, don't run around. Be careful they don't fart you to death."

Humar, who was only level one, had no idea what his master was saying. It simply followed his butt out of instinct, as their contract dictated.

After they'd walked a few dozen meters, the path ahead came to an end. A swirling space-time portal blocked the passage.

"This must be it! Let's go. We have to face it sooner or later, so let's try to get it right on the first shot!"

After Sun Busong said this to the kitten-sized Humar, the cat surprisingly let out a rare meow.

"Meow!"

"Hahaha, in we go!"

Sun Busong gave Humar a happy smile, then strode through the space-time portal.

Just like in the movies, the space inside the portal was warped. He couldn't do anything there—not even breathe. The swirling tunnel carried him violently into another space.

Just as Sun Busong felt he was about to be crushed and squeezed flat, his body suddenly became weightless. His heart started beating again, and he hurriedly sucked in a couple of breaths. Then came the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Thump! Crack! One heavy, one light.

The heavy one was, of course, Sun Busong. He landed face-first in the dirt. The lighter sound came from Humar. The little thing landed on all four paws, snapping a twig with barely a sound. A safe landing.

Groaning, Sun Busong slowly pushed himself upright with both arms. Before he could check his injuries, he heard chains and engines rumbling nearby. Forgetting to examine himself, he hurriedly looked in the direction of the noise.

What he saw nearly scared him to death. Sun Busong blurted out, "Holy shit!"

A huge army of robots stood before him! Yes, an army—and it even had a unit designation.

SAFE Mechanical Marine Corps!

The robots weren't very tall, only about two meters, but those steel behemoths were seriously bulky. Each of their arms was thicker than Sun Busong's shoulders.

Their entire bodies were made of silver-colored alloy. Their most vital component, the intelligence system, was completely protected inside their armored bodies. They had no heads; an Electronic Identifier was mounted on top of each enormous body instead.

Their freely telescoping arms could extend up to five meters. At the end of each was a massive mechanical hand made up of three steel claws. Their legs could extend, too, and they moved on tank treads.

Five enormous Exhaust Pipes jutted from their backs, belching black smoke with a rumble. Gun barrels that could extend and retract were faintly visible in their bodies.

Sun Busong quickly counted at least twenty of them. They were surrounding him, yet none reacted to his arrival.

"Don't shoot! I'm one of you!"

How could he not be scared? Who wouldn't be frightened by a sight like this?

Just as Sun Busong was about to keep insisting that he was innocent, a voice reached his ears. It was like music from heaven; he was so moved he nearly burst into tears.

"Hey, shorty! You look hilarious lying there!"

"I'm here to complete a Trial Mission. We're allies! Where are you, my friend? Can I see your magnificent form?" He frantically searched in every direction and shouted.

But after looking everywhere, Sun Busong still couldn't find the speaker.

"Hey! Look down!"

This time Sun Busong pinpointed the source of the voice. He widened his eyes and stared carefully toward it. A tiny figure stood at the feet of a robot with a Green Flag on it.

All the robots looked exactly alike, so it was impossible to tell them apart. Their identification numbers were the only way to distinguish them.

A big number 1 was stamped on the shoulder of the robot with the flag, and the speaker was standing between its feet!

"Come over, my friend. Don't worry, they won't attack allied forces."

The tiny figure spoke again.

Only after receiving the other party's reassurance did Sun Busong gingerly make his way over.

Mordok, Level 26 Elite.

"I have to say, friend, your robots are terrifying! What if you scare us Trial Mission participants to death? How will you answer for that?"

"Hahaha, we're not afraid of you dying from fright. If you really did die of fright, your Trial Mission would count as a failure, and you'd just have to wait until the next time."

"And you wouldn't be responsible if we died?"

"No. We throw the bodies of failures into the space-time portal. They'll come back to life on the other side."

"Oh! So that's how it works. Look at me—I'm drenched in a cold sweat!"

Now that he understood what was going on, Sun Busong's heartbeat finally began to settle.

"Just sweat? I've seen plenty of Dwarf race Trial Mission participants wet themselves in fright. Come over and let me have a sniff!"

Damn!

This guy had a hobby like that? Sun Busong hurriedly squeezed his legs together.

"No, no need! I really didn't wet myself!"

"You didn't, but your cat did!" Mordok pointed in a certain direction.

Right, Sun Busong had brought a pet along.

He turned around and saw a black lump lying on the ground. Their level-one Lion King had really wet itself. Yellow liquid slowly trickled from between its hind legs.

What kind of combat pet was this? Sun Busong began to suspect that the big shot who'd helped him modify it was messing with him.

"Humar! Get up! Don't embarrass me. You're a Combat Pet, not a Hunter! How did you even learn their signature trick, playing dead?"

Ignoring the stench, Sun Busong picked Humar up with one hand, stretching his arm as far as it could go. Then he shook it hard, trying to wake it up and shake off the yellow liquid at the same time.

After chatting for a while, the two of them got down to business.

"Why haven't your teammates arrived yet?" After checking the time, Mordok figured the others should have entered the trial grounds long ago. But Sun Busong was still alone.

"I don't have any teammates. I came in alone to complete the Trial Mission."

"Wow! So does that mean I get another chance to witness a Nightmare-difficulty trial?"

"I guess so."

"Fine, then. I'll tell you a few things about the trial grounds."

"First, each group of warriors is assigned a random trial location. I'm just the manager of one of these ten trial sites. My site has 180 ordinary enemies, 230 Elite-level enemies, and four bosses. You have to kill them all to complete the trial."

"During your trial, volunteers will guide you to the bosses. But you have to complete my three tasks before you can meet those volunteers. If you're ready, we'll begin."

"Sure, I'm ready!"

After Sun Busong said this, Mordok gave him three tasks.

The tasks were: 1. Collect radiation dust. 2. Find the source of the radiation and retrieve some radiation dust. 3. Recover a universal mechanical component.

"Go on, my friend. Have a pleasant journey!"

After leaving the Robot Army and Mordok behind, Sun Busong headed down the passage.

Once he was gone, Mordok took off his glasses in confusion. These weren't ordinary glasses; they were the latest and most advanced Combat Analyzer from the Gnome race. They could analyze a target's strength with a high degree of accuracy.

"That dwarf's health bar is pretty long! His Strength Value is abnormal, too. Is the Dwarf race about to produce another powerful warrior?"

After turning a few corners, Sun Busong encountered his first group of enemies.

It was only three monsters, really: an ordinary Leprous Mechanic, a Mechanical Sentry riding a Mechanical Ostrich, and a four-legged mechanical spider called a Mechanical Flame Walker. The latter two were Elite Level.

All three monsters were level 21, just right for Sun Busong to farm Slaughter Value.

"Stay here and don't move. I'll come back for you once I've taken care of them."

Sun Busong was getting ready to attack. Before leaving, he gave Humar a few instructions. He didn't know whether it understood him, but seeing it trembling like a sieve, it probably wouldn't come charging into battle.

"Kill!"

Of the three monsters, the Leprous Mechanic was the only ordinary one, so Sun Busong naturally planned to pick it off first.

He still had his blue axe. It was more than enough to deal with these enemies.

Sun Busong accelerated toward the three monsters. The Mechanical Flame Walker was the first to notice him. It moved quickly, and before Sun Busong could get close to the Leprous Mechanic, it had already charged at him, its two front legs slashing viciously.

They were called front legs, but they were really sharp spears made of steel. Sun Busong dodged two attacks, then the Mechanical Sentry riding the Mechanical Ostrich joined in and attacked him.

The Leprous Mechanic seemed a little dim-witted. Its method of attack was to throw pebbles at Sun Busong! Could that even hurt him?

Seeing how the Leprous Mechanic attacked, Sun Busong immediately changed targets.

The Mechanical Sentry's attack was simple, too. It just controlled the Mechanical Ostrich to attack with its beak and claws. That wasn't much of a threat either. Sun Busong was still assessing the enemies when flames suddenly surged up behind him and engulfed his entire body.

It was the Mechanical Flame Walker. This thing could breathe fire!

Sun Busong had assumed the monster just had a flashy name. He hadn't expected it to actually attack with flames.

The intense heat roasted his Plate Armor. Before long, he could barely take it. Fortunately, the Mechanical Flame Walker didn't breathe fire for long. Otherwise, he would've ended up as roasted meat in his armor.

The biggest threat had to be killed first.

Enduring the burning pain, Sun Busong raised his axe and attacked the Mechanical Flame Walker. To avoid getting burned a second time, he aimed at the monster's flame nozzle.

Behind him, the Leprous Mechanic and Mechanical Sentry kept attacking, but he ignored them completely, swinging his blue axe over and over with all his strength.

In less than two seconds, he'd landed more than a dozen blows. The thick nozzle was chopped off. Sun Busong immediately spun around and swung his axe backward. It landed precisely on the Mechanical Ostrich's neck. The Mechanical Ostrich was dead!

The headless Mechanical Ostrich crashed to the ground with a rumble, out of action. The Leprous Gnome riding it tried to run away.

"Have a taste of your Old Man's axe!"

The words had barely left his mouth when its head came off.

The moment he killed the Mechanical Ostrich, Sun Busong understood something: when fighting mechanical monsters, he shouldn't destroy their weapons. He needed to find their weak points, break through their defenses, and kill the operators inside.

The Mechanical Flame Walker had lost its nozzle, but that wasn't its weak point. Without the nozzle, it could still attack Sun Busong with its spear-like legs.

Cut off its legs? No!

Sun Busong dodged its attacks while carefully examining the Mechanical Flame Walker's structure. Soon, he found its weakness.

On the upper part of its back was a lid that could be opened!!!

This was unbelievable. These Leprous Mechanics had put their entrance in the most conspicuous place? Why not put it underneath the Mechanical Flame Walker's belly?

Sun Busong dodged another attack, then leaped with all his might, landing right on the Mechanical Flame Walker's back. He swung his axe downward, and with a ripping sound, carved a huge gash into the lid.

The gash wasn't large enough for Sun Busong to jump inside, but the Leprous Mechanic in there was terrified. It screamed, let go of the control lever, and started running back and forth inside the cramped cockpit.

Less than a second later, the poor thing was killed by one of Sun Busong's Flying Axes. That left only the one that had been throwing pebbles.

No need to say more. One axe split it in two.

After the battle, Sun Busong took off his Plate Armor and Chainmail Leggings to cool down, then started looting the battlefield.

He'd collected four silver coins and one Green-Grade piece of equipment.

Its stats weren't very good, so he tossed it straight into his backpack.

Then he found some cloth in his backpack and stuffed it inside his armor and leggings. That would reduce the pain of getting roasted by flames.

Once he'd finished all that, Sun Busong looked over at Humar, still trembling in the distance.

He shook his head, at a loss for words. But just as he was about to go comfort the little lion, he suddenly noticed that Humar was already level 5!

It had grown a little bigger, too. In theory, after he killed three level-21 monsters, the experience it received should have been limited—at most, enough to gain one level. But now it had gained four.

He checked his own experience, and it hadn't increased at all!

So killing enemies here didn't give him experience. That meant all the monsters' experience went to Humar.

That was fine, too. Once Humar's level got higher, maybe it would stop being such a coward.

It wouldn't get in the way of his own benefits, anyway. An ordinary monster was worth 2 Health Points, and an elite monster was worth 10. Plus, each monster gave him one point of Slaughter Value. Any way you looked at it, he was coming out ahead!

"Follow me!"

Once Humar had recovered a little from its fear, Sun Busong called it over and continued forward.

Less than ten minutes later, they encountered another group of monsters in the passage. This time, there was a new kind of level-21 ordinary enemy: the Leprous Assistant.

There was one Elite Mechanical Flame Walker, two Leprous Mechanics, and six Leprous Assistants thrown in for free. Sun Busong charged straight onto the Flame Walker's back as soon as the fight began. After cutting a small hole in it, he tossed in one of his homemade Solid Bombs. This was his new strategy.

After a boom, the Flame Walker was disabled. The rest were nothing but easy Health Points. After clearing out the wave of enemies, Sun Busong's Health Points had reached 22,773.

Hahaha. Even the final boss here probably couldn't match my health bar!

After that, Sun Busong farmed Health Points as he made his way through the winding passage.

Along the way, he ran into another kind of mechanical monster, the Mechanical Frost Walker. But it was just as easy to deal with, and Sun Busong took it down all the same.

The only thing that gave him a headache along the way was the ever-present Mobile Alarm Systems. They could fly, and as soon as one spotted Sun Busong, it would alert the other robots nearby.

Before long, Sun Busong would be surrounded. One of the enemies that joined in was a new level-22 Elite: the Power Guard Armor.

It was a member of the SAFE Mechanical Marine Corps. Apart from the different color, even the position of its number was the same.

These mechanical monsters were hard to kill. They barely had any weak points, and their attacks were powerful. Fortunately, only one ever appeared at a time. If three or four showed up at once, Sun Busong would definitely die trying to escape.

He walked and fought his way onward, and five hours later, Sun Busong was lost.

He hadn't seen a single one of the monsters from the tasks Mordok had given him.

Radiation Invaders, Radiation Raiders, or any of the irradiated Sludge Monsters, Lurkers, and Water Elementals—he hadn't encountered any of them.

He hadn't seen a single Mechanical Storage Cabinet either.

He realized he'd been wandering around in the same area the whole time, but he wasn't too worried. Humar was already level 15. At this rate, by the time he completed the Trial Mission, Humar might even catch up to his own level.

Lion King Humar: A Combat Pet with an extremely high Growth Degree. It will be your most loyal companion and family.

Level 15, ordinary, growable (0/10), Loyalty 100%. (Status: Hungry)

Health Points: 543; Strength: 38; Agility: 38; Intelligence: 38; Spirit: 38; Stamina: 38. (Master Attribute Boost: +2,332 Health Points; +22 Strength; +3 Agility; +4 Stamina.)

Skill 1: Cower (reduces the pet's presence, making enemies ignore it).

Skill 2: Lurker (makes your pet enter stealth, but reduces its Movement Speed. Its first attack from stealth deals 50% bonus damage. Attacking an enemy or taking damage from an enemy cancels stealth.)

Growable pets can absorb the Soul Energy of other rare monsters they kill and evolve.

Ordinary Humar gains 2 attribute points per level and learns a random Pet Skill every 10 levels.

Let's pay our respects to the big shot [I Can't Believe I'm Reading the Original]. I just wanted to ask: can recommendation votes be saved up? That was eight votes in one go! Thank you!