Trial Mission

Passing the infected who were raving and emitting green gas, along with the flying vehicles overhead capturing the infected, Sun Busong quickly reached the true entrance to the trial grounds.

It was the gate of a large factory. As soon as he and the cat approached, the gate automatically sensed their arrival and opened.

"So advanced! A sensor door. Let's go, my little cat, haha. From now on, we're in this together, life or death. Don't run off once we're inside, or someone might blast you with a fart."

Level 1 Húmer had no clue what its master Busong was saying; it just instinctively followed behind him per the contract.

After they advanced a few dozen meters, the path ahead ended. The passage was blocked by a swirling vortex-like spacetime gate.

"This should be it! Let's go. We've got to charge through sooner or later anyway. Let's aim for a one-shot clear!"

Sun Busong said this to the cat-like Húmer, and this time, the creature actually let out a rare meow in response.

"Meow!"

"Hahaha, let's go!"

Sun Busong gave Húmer a happy grin, then strode boldly into the spacetime gate.

Just like in the movies, the space inside the gate was warped. He couldn't do anything there—couldn't even breathe. The spinning passage dragged him violently into another space.

Just as Sun Busong felt he was about to be crushed flat, his body suddenly lightened, and his heart started beating again. He gasped for air twice, followed by the sound of objects hitting the ground: thud! crack! One heavy, one light.

The heavy one was naturally Sun Busong, face-planting into the dirt. The light sound came from Húmer—the little guy landed on all four paws, snapping a twig with barely a noise, touching down safely.

Sun Busong groaned, slowly pushing himself up with his arms. Before he could check his injuries, he heard the sound of chains and engines nearby. Ignoring his own condition, he quickly looked up toward the noise.

That look nearly did him in. Sun Busong blurted out a curse: "Holy shit!"

In front of him was a massive Robot Army! And yes, it had a unit designation.

SAFE Mechanical Marine Corps!

These robots weren't too tall—about two meters—but they were built thick. One of their arms was thicker than Sun Busong's entire shoulder.

The robots were made of silver-white alloy. Their critical intelligence systems were fully encased inside the alloy body. They had no heads, just an Electronic Identifier mounted symbolically on top of their massive frames.

Their retractable arms could extend up to five meters, ending in huge mechanical hands with three Steel Claws. Their legs could also extend, and their feet moved on Tracks.

On their backs were five massive Exhaust Pipes, belching black smoke. Inside their bodies, retractable Machine Gun Ports were faintly visible.

Sun Busong roughly counted—at least twenty units. These robots showed no reaction to his arrival; they just surrounded him.

"Don't shoot! I'm on your side!"

How could he not be scared? Who wouldn't be terrified facing a setup like this?

Just as Sun Busong was about to plead his innocence further, a voice reached his ears. It sounded like heaven, almost making him cry with relief.

"Hey! Down there, shorty friend. You look hilarious lying on the ground!"

"I'm here for the Trial Mission! We're allies! Where are you, my friend? Can I see your magnificent form?" He whipped his head around, searching frantically, and shouted loudly.

But after searching for a while, Sun Busong couldn't find where the speaker was.

"Hey! Look down."

This time, Sun Busong caught the source. He squinted hard toward the sound and spotted a tiny figure beside the foot of a robot flying a Green Flag.

All these robots looked identical—impossible to tell apart except by their markings.

The robot with the flag had a large "1" branded on its shoulder, and the speaker stood right between its two feet!

"Come over, my friend. Don't worry—they won't attack allies."

The tiny figure spoke again.

With that assurance, Sun Busong nervously shuffled over to the tiny figure.

Mordok, Level 26 Elite.

"Hey, friend, your robots are terrifying! What if you scare us trial-takers to death? How would you explain that?"

"Haha, we're not afraid of you dying of fright. If you do, your trial fails, and you'll have to wait for the next round."

"So you don't take responsibility if we die of fright?"

"Nope! We toss the losers' bodies into the spacetime gate, and they revive over there."

"Oh, I see! You really scared the sweat out of me."

Now that he understood, Sun Busong's heartbeat finally steadied.

"Just sweat? I've seen plenty of Dwarf race trial-takers piss themselves. Come here, let me sniff!"

Damn!

This guy had that kind of hobby? Sun Busong quickly clamped his legs together.

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

"You didn't, but your cat did!" Mordok pointed to a spot.

Right—Sun Busong had brought a pet.

He turned and saw a black lump lying on the ground. Their Level 1 Lion King had indeed pissed itself. Yellow liquid slowly trickled from between its legs.

What kind of combat pet was this? Sun Busong started to wonder if the big shot who helped him modify things was messing with him.

"Humma! Get up, don't embarrass me. You're a combat pet, not a hunter—how'd you even learn their signature move, playing dead?"

Bearing the stench, Sun Busong hoisted Humma up with one hand, arm stretched to its limit, then shook him vigorously, hoping to wake him while flinging off the yellow liquid.

After chatting a bit more, they got down to business.

"How come your teammates aren't here yet?" Mordok calculated the time and figured the others should've entered the trial grounds by now, but it was still just Sun Busong alone.

"I don't have teammates. I came in solo to do the trial quest."

"Whoa! So that means I get to witness another nightmare-difficulty trial, right?"

"Should be."

"Alright then, let me fill you in on the trial grounds."

"First, each warrior's trial location is random. I'm just the overseer for one of ten trial sites here. I've got 180 normal enemies, 230 elite-level enemies, and four bosses. You have to kill every single one to complete the trial."

"During your trial, volunteers will guide you to the boss locations, but you need to finish three tasks from me first to meet them. If you're ready, let's begin."

"Alright, I'm ready!"

As soon as Sun Busong said that, Mordok handed him the three tasks.

They were: 1. Collect radioactive dust. 2. Find the radiation source and retrieve some fallout. 3. Retrieve universal mechanical parts.

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

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

Once he was gone, Mordok took off his glasses with a puzzled look. These weren't ordinary glasses—they were the Gnome race's latest and highest-grade Combat Analyzer, capable of analyzing a target's strength with high probability.

"This dwarf's health bar is a bit long! And his Strength Value is abnormal too. Is the Dwarf race about to produce another tough guy?"

After a few turns, Sun Busong encountered his first batch of enemies.

A batch, but really just three monsters: a normal Leprous Mechanic, a Mechanical Sentry riding a Mechanical Ostrich, and a four-legged mechanical spider called a Mechanical Flame Walker—those last two were Elite Level.

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

"You stay here and don't move. I'll come get you after I deal with them."

Sun Busong was about to engage, but he settled Humma down first, not sure if he'd understand. Seeing him trembling like a sieve, though, he probably wouldn't rush in to die.

"Kill!"

Among the three monsters, the Leprous Mechanic was normal grade. Sun Busong would pick the low-hanging fruit and take him out first.

His weapon was still his blue axe, but it was more than enough for these guys.

Sun Busong started sprinting toward the three monsters. The first to notice him was the Mechanical Flame Walker—it was fast, charging in before he could even reach the Leprous Mechanic, lunging with its two front claws.

Claws, but really they were sharp steel spears. Sun Busong dodged two attacks, then the Mechanical Sentry on its Mechanical Ostrich joined in, attacking him too.

The Leprous Mechanic's brain might've been faulty—his attack method was just throwing rocks at Sun Busong! Was that supposed to hurt?

Seeing the Leprous Mechanic's tactics, Sun Busong immediately switched targets.

The Mechanical Sentry's attack pattern was simple too, just using the Mechanical Ostrich's beak and claws. No big threat. As Sun Busong was still analyzing the enemy's strength, a burst of flame erupted behind him, engulfing him entirely.

It was the Mechanical Flame Walker—this thing could breathe fire!

Sun Busong had thought the monster just had a flashy name, but it turned out it really could attack with flames.

The high heat seared his Plate Armor. Soon, he couldn't take it anymore. Lucky for him, the Mechanical Flame Walker's fire breath didn't last long, or he'd have been roasted inside his armor.

The biggest threat had to die first.

Bearing the burn pain, Sun Busong lifted his axe and started hacking at the Mechanical Flame Walker. To avoid getting torched again, he aimed his strikes right at the monster's flame nozzle.

Behind him, the Leprous Mechanic and Mechanical Sentry kept attacking, but he paid them no mind, swinging his blue axe furiously.

In under two seconds, he'd landed over a dozen chops. The thick flame nozzle was severed. Then Sun Busong spun around and swung his axe in a backhand strike, the blade landing cleanly on the Mechanical Ostrich's neck beneath the Mechanical Sentry. Mechanical Ostrich, dead!

Headless, the Mechanical Ostrich crashed to the ground with a boom, combat disabled. The Leprous Gnome riding it tried to flee.

"Take your Old Man's axe!"

Words done, head gone.

Killing the Mechanical Ostrich in that instant taught Sun Busong a lesson: taking down mechanical monsters wasn't about destroying their weapons—it was about finding their weak points, breaking through the defense from there, and killing the operator inside.

The Mechanical Flame Walker's flame nozzle was gone, but that wasn't its vital spot. Without it, it could still attack with its spear-like legs.

Chop the legs? No!

Dodging and weaving, Sun Busong carefully studied the Mechanical Flame Walker's structure. Soon, he found its weakness.

On top of the Mechanical Flame Walker's back, there was a hatch that could open!!!

That was shocking. These Leprous Mechanics just blatantly put their entrance in the most obvious spot? Why not stick it under the belly!

Sun Busong dodged another attack, then leaped hard, landing right on the Mechanical Flame Walker's back. He swung his axe down—shiiing—and the hatch was slashed open with a huge gash.

The gash wasn't big enough for him to jump inside, but the Leprous Mechanic inside was terrified. He shrieked, let go of the control lever, and started running back and forth in the cramped cockpit.

In less than a second, the poor bastard was taken out by a Flying Axe from Sun Busong. That left only the rock-thrower.

Nothing to say—one axe, two halves.

After the battle ended, Sun Busong took off his plate armor and chainmail leggings to cool down, then began cleaning up the battlefield.

He collected 4 silver coins and a Green-grade piece of equipment.

But the stats weren't great, so he tossed it straight into his backpack.

Then he found some cloth in his backpack and padded it inside the plate armor and pants, which would reduce the pain from the flames' searing heat.

After finishing all that, Sun Busong looked over at Huma, who was still trembling in the distance.

He shook his head, not knowing what to say. But just as he was about to go comfort the little lion, he suddenly noticed that Huma had already reached level 5!

Its size had grown a bit. Logically, after he killed three level 21 monsters, the experience shared with his pet wouldn't be much—at most one level. But now, it was different; it had jumped four levels.

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

So it turned out that killing enemies here didn't give him experience; all the monster experience went straight to Huma.

But that was fine. Once Huma leveled up enough, it might—probably, hopefully—stop being such a coward.

Either way, it didn't mess with his gains. A normal monster gave 2 Health Points, an elite gave 10, plus each monster yielded 1 Slaughter Value. No matter how he calculated it, he was coming out ahead.

"Follow me!"

Once Huma had calmed down a bit from its fear, Sun Busong called it and moved on.

Within ten minutes, another batch of monsters appeared in the corridor. This time, there was a new type of level 21 normal enemy: the Leprous Assistant.

One elite Mechanical Flame Walker, plus two Leprous Mechanics, with an extra six Leprous Assistants thrown in. Sun Busong charged straight onto the Flame Walker's back as the fight started, cut a small opening, and tossed in a Solid Bomb he'd made himself—this was his new tactic.

With a boom, the Flame Walker was crippled. The rest were just free Health Points. After wiping out that wave, Sun Busong's Health Points reached 22,773.

Haha. With this HP bar of mine, even the final boss here probably can't catch up!

Next, Sun Busong kept farming Health Points in the winding corridors.

Along the way, he ran into another type of mechanical monster, the Mechanical Frost Walker, but it was just as easy to take down. Sun Busong accepted them all without exception.

The only thing that gave him a headache was the ubiquitous Mobile Alarm System. Those things could fly, and as soon as they spotted Sun Busong, they'd alert all the other robots nearby.

Soon, Sun Busong would get swarmed, and among them appeared a new level 22 elite, the Power Guard Armor.

These were straight-up members of the SAFE Mechanical Marine Corps. Aside from the different color, even the serial number placement was identical.

These mechanical monsters were no joke to kill—almost no weak points, and their attack power was ferocious. Luckily, only one showed up at a time. If three or four came at once, Sun Busong would definitely be dead meat.

He kept moving and killing. Five hours later, Sun Busong was lost.

None of the monsters from the mission Mordok had given him had shown up.

Not a single Radiation Invader or Radiation Raider, nor any of those irradiated Sludge Monsters, Lurkers, or Water Elementals. He hadn't encountered any of them.

He hadn't found any Mechanical Storage Cabinets either.

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

Lion King Huma: A combat-type pet with extremely high Growth Degree. It will be your most loyal comrade and family.

Level 15, Common Grade, Growable (0/10), Loyalty 100%. (Status: Hungry)

Health Points: 543. Strength: 38. Agility: 38. Intelligence: 38. Spirit: 38. Endurance: 38. (Master Attribute Boost: +2332 Health Points. +22 Strength. +3 Agility. +4 Endurance.)

Skill 1: Cower (Reduces the pet's presence, making enemies less likely to attack it).

Skill 2: Lurker (Puts your pet into stealth, but Movement Speed is reduced. The first attack after stealth gains a 50% damage bonus. Actively attacking an enemy or being hit by enemy damage will cancel stealth.)

A Growable-type pet can absorb Soul Energy from killing other rare monsters to evolve.

(Common Grade Huma's attribute growth is 2 points. Every 10 levels, it will randomly learn one Pet Skill.)

Kowtow to the big shot [I can't believe I'm reading the official version] I just want to ask—can these recommendation tickets be saved up? Throwing eight at once! Grateful!