"An escort mission?"
After hearing Xu Ran's request, Zhang Yun frowned slightly. "Boss, our Fierce Tiger Hunting Squad can certainly work as mercenaries for hire, but the area outside Qingzhou City isn't safe."
"You want our Fierce Tiger Hunting Squad to escort you to a designated area outside Qingzhou City and help you gather some resources. Why not just have us gather them and bring them back?"
To Zhang Yun, the latter was clearly the safer option. Without Xu Ran weighing them down, the Fierce Tiger Hunting Squad would also have more freedom to act.
The corner of Xu Ran's mouth twitched. "No, I have to go with you."
You think I don't want to sit comfortably in the shop and wait for the Azure Jade Fruit to arrive at my doorstep? It's all because of this stupid system's quest!
The moment he saw Beginner Quest 3, Xu Ran had thought of getting powerful people to escort him.
After all, the area outside Qingzhou City was anything but peaceful. Leaving the city with only Purple Cloud would be far too dangerous.
By comparison, having the Fierce Tiger Hunting Squad accompany him would make things much safer. Most of their Contract Beasts were at elite rank, and they had plenty of experience surviving outside the city.
Zhang Yun fell silent for a moment, then turned to the other three.
"What do you think?"
"I think we can take it." Liu Gu scratched his head. "The area the boss mentioned isn't a place where Supernatural Creatures gather, and we won't pass through any such areas on the way. It's relatively safe."
Xu Ran's grooming had helped him a great deal. Naturally, Liu Gu wanted to help him in return if it was within his abilities.
"The trip won't take much time. Bring Du Heng along, and it'll be even faster with his Steel-Armored Rhino." Liu Xue smiled. "As long as the boss can afford our fee, there's no harm in making the trip."
"I don't have any objections either." Yan Fan shrugged.
"In that case..." Zhang Yun looked at Xu Ran and considered his words before speaking. "Boss, our Hunting Squad doesn't come cheap. Since there won't be much danger along the way, we'll give you a friends' rate. How about a hundred thousand for the trip?"
"Sure." Xu Ran thought it over briefly, then quickly nodded in agreement.
A hundred thousand wasn't cheap, but an escort of so many elite-rank Contract Beasts was worth it.
Besides, the money he had just earned from grooming the squad members' Contract Beasts already exceeded that amount...
"Then when do we leave?" Zhang Yun asked.
"Today would be a little too rushed. Let's leave the city first thing tomorrow morning." After some thought, Xu Ran decided to get it over with and complete the quest as soon as possible.
"All right."
After agreeing on a time to meet at the city gates tomorrow, Zhang Yun and the other three got up to leave once more.
"Wait a moment, Uncle Liu!"
Just as the four were about to walk out of the shop, Xu Ran seemed to remember something. He hurried over and placed a hand on Liu Gu's shoulder.
"What is it?" Liu Gu looked bewildered.
"Nothing. See you tomorrow." Xu Ran withdrew his hand and gave him a warm smile.
Liu Gu scratched his head and hurried after his teammates.
As he watched the four leave, Xu Ran's smile grew even brighter.
Just now, he had suddenly realized that he had enough happiness points for a ten-pull draw.
So he had hurried to draw before Liu "Lucky Charm" Gu left.
And the results had been a delightful surprise.
Although he hadn't had time to look closely, he had pulled blue items-and more than one!
"Meow~" (Any new skills?)
Purple Cloud immediately jumped into his arms and looked up at him expectantly.
After grooming so many Contract Beasts, surely he had a new skill to teach?
"One."
Xu Ran smiled and shut the shop door, then opened the panel.
[Host: Xu Ran Contract Power: Tier 1 Contract Beast: Purple Cloud [View details] System skills: [Fur Plucking (C-rank)] (1/100) [Drugging (D-rank)] (0/100) Contract Beast skills: [★Blood Rage] (Teachable) [★★Ice Storm] (Not teachable) Physique points: 0 Happiness points: 243 System upgrade experience: 150/1000]
After glancing at his system skills, Xu Ran couldn't help raising his eyebrows.
What's going on? Why do D-rank Drugging and C-rank Fur Plucking both have progress bars that cap at 100?
It clearly only took ten uses to upgrade Fur Plucking from D-rank to C-rank.
Is Drugging harder to upgrade?
Or is its progress calculated differently from Fur Plucking?
Once I unlock the boarding feature, I'll have to explore this new skill properly.
Setting his questions aside for now, Xu Ran selected the teachable [Blood Rage] skill and taught it directly to Purple Cloud.
This skill had come from Yan Fan's Three-Armed Demon Ape. Using it greatly increased combat strength, but also caused a certain loss of reason and left the user weakened for a while afterward.
Since Purple Cloud had no similar skill, it was still worth learning.
As a flood of knowledge entered Purple Cloud's mind and a brand-new skill was mastered, a delighted expression immediately appeared on the cat's face.
That familiar feeling again!
The feeling of growing a brain!
"This skill has some pretty serious side effects, so don't rush to try it. We'll test it later in the Training Room," Xu Ran cautioned before examining the results of his ten-pull draw.
He was quite excited about his first ten-pull draw.
[White, a packet of delicious cat treats]
How delicious? I'll let Purple Cloud try them later.
[White, a high-quality Cat Teaser]
I already have one. Bad review.
[Green, Stamina Potion]
This one's good. I'll take Purple Cloud to train in a bit.
[Blue, Lucky Charm]
Hmm?
Xu Ran touched the Lucky Charm, and its description entered his mind.
[The Lucky Charm is a special item produced by the system. Its holder can receive one instance of good luck.]
Since it was on the same level as an Awakening Stone, it should actually work.
He could bring it along when he left the city tomorrow. It had arrived at just the right time.
[Green, Stamina Potion]
A second bottle. Including the one left over from before, I have three now.
[White, a warm, sturdy cat bed]
What cat actually sleeps in a cat bed? Useless! Bad review!
[Blue, Awakening Stone]
This one's good.
Xu Ran nodded in satisfaction. His future second Contract Beast might be able to use it.
[White, an attractive cat food bowl]
This looks useful too, so I'll spare it the complaints.
Xu Ran's gaze moved farther down. The final two items in the ten-pull draw were both blue.
[Blue, Skill Fusion Stone] [Blue, Skill Fusion Stone]
Looking at the beautiful, rounded stones, Xu Ran quickly reached out to touch one.
[The Skill Fusion Stone is a special item produced by the system. It can fuse two or more skills into a stronger skill.] [Note 1: Fusion has a chance of success. Upon success, the original skills disappear, and the new skill inherits the highest proficiency among the original skills. Failure has no side effects.] [Note 2: The fewer skills used in the fusion, the lower their star ratings, and the more compatible they are, the higher the success rate.] [Note 3: After a skill fusion fails, the success rate of the next fusion using the same skills increases to a certain extent.]
Xu Ran: "!!!"
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