Chapter 16 The Hidden Rules of Task Rewards

Under the shield of the Invisibility Veil, Lu Heng stealthily approached the Scary Claw Demon from behind, and stabbed with the Aurora Blade.

Pu!

The sharp blade pierced through the back of the Scary Claw Demon and protruded from its chest.

Ao!

The Scary Claw Demon let out a mournful scream, trying to strike back before dying.

Lu Heng activated "Thunder Weapon", and a current of electricity shot out from the blade, paralyzing the Scary Claw Demon's body, then he split its chest open and finished it off.

"Killed the Scary Claw Demon, absorbed 20 Demon Energy points."

Roar! Roar!

Almost simultaneously, two roars sounded.

The scouting eagle appeared midair and directly located one of the Invisible Horned Demons.

Lu Heng pulled out the Aurora Blade and dashed toward the scouting eagle's position.

He executed the "Moon-cutting Style" from the Step Sword Seven Styles, slashing with a bright sword light.

The sharp blade swept through, and from what had been an empty space, a spray of blood surged up.

The first Invisible Horned Demon fell with a scream.

Following that,

The scouting eagle quickly moved towards Su Muyu's direction.

Seeing this, Lu Heng knew the second Invisible Horned Demon was aiming to attack Su Muyu and immediately ran to catch up.

With the scouting eagle tracking, Su Muyu kept eyeing the second Invisible Horned Demon's location, and when she saw it charging, she quickly entered an invisible state to hide.

Clearly lacking the ability to detect invisibility, the second Invisible Horned Demon began to run erratically after losing its target, but its position was continuously locked by the scouting eagle.

Lu Heng caught up and with a powerful chop, split it in two.

Achieving a triple kill, he sheathed his sword.

The high attack power of the weapon was different; one slash per Horned Demon, without the need for a second blow, was utterly satisfying.

With two Invisible Horned Demons down, two data prompts popped up in succession:

"Killed a demon, absorbed 20 points of Demon Energy."

"Killed a demon, absorbed 20 points of Demon Energy."

"Demon Energy strengthens energy level, Source Energy Level rises to Level 5, all attributes +1, Agility attribute additionally +0.3"

Su Muyu, confirming that there were no other Abyss Demons nearby, came out of her invisible state.

"Did you absorb any Demon Energy?" Lu Heng asked.

"Yes, I gained two levels, now at Level 3, quite amazing," Su Muyu nodded with a smile, finding the leveling experience quite fascinating.

Her five-dimensional attributes were lifted to: Strength 9, Agility 10, Constitution 10, Spirit 14 (13+1), Perception 14.

Included among the 14 points of Spirit, 1 point was added by an Energy Crystal Bracelet.

"That's good." Lu Heng turned to retrieve the spoils of war.

During the recent fight with the three Horned Demons, he had no time to collect the Demon Crystal Cores.

Now, picking them up to check, the three Horned Demons had dropped two cores.

One was a regular Crystal Core, and the other was a Skill Crystal Core.

Seeing the name of this Skill Crystal Core, Lu Heng's eyes immediately lit up.

"Gale Step Crystal Core: Absorbing the crystal's energy, there's a chance to learn the 'Gale Step' skill."

"Gale Step: Release energy into the legs, gaining wind-like running speed, increase running speed by +80%. Skill consumption: 3 Source Energy/minute. Skill Level: D."

This "Gale Step" Crystal Core dropped from the Scary Claw Demon, which meant that the Scary Claw Demon very likely possessed this skill.

If the Scary Claw Demon had started running earlier, with 180% running speed, he wouldn't have been able to catch up.

Among the acceleration skills obtainable at the beginning of Abyss Descent, "Gale Step" was one of the most useful.

Lu Heng directly used the "Gale Step" Crystal Core, absorbing the energy within.

The core's energy flowed into his body, forming an Energy Ball in the third Skill Slot.

Having successfully learned the "Gale Step" skill, Lu Heng picked up the Narnia Crystal and returned to Quenching Castle to report back.

...

On the way back, they conveniently passed a Flame Assistance Ore mining site.

Lu Heng tried the mining task and found it to be physically demanding; to mine enough Flame Assistance Ore would take at least four to five days.

Lu Heng decisively gave up and headed straight back to Quenching Castle.

Upon entering Quenching Castle, he unexpectedly encountered the scholarly young man, Chen Zihang.

His spirit seemed lethargic; he had probably just found the location of the castle, and after a day of enduring Spiritual Pollution from the Abyss, his mental state had plummeted to rock bottom.

Gulu, seeing that Lu Heng and companion had brought back the Narnia Crystal, happily came forward: "That's great! It really is a Narnia Crystal, thank you so much."

He had said this as he held up the Narnia Crystal and entered the castle, leaving no time to greet Chen Zihang.

Chen Zihang was even more surprised, "You guys..."

Lu Heng knew what he wanted to ask, "We arrived last night."

Chen Zihang thought for a moment, then said, "Hu Biao and his group are almost at their limit."

Lu Heng curiously looked at him and asked, "Do you want to save them?"

This was a question that tested humanity, but not saving them didn't mean being cold-hearted.

Lu Heng had experienced those three years and had seen too many cruel things with his own eyes.

Aside from deeply affectionate companions, one could never know whether the person saved was a farmer or a snake.

Humans only have the right to talk about humanity when their survival is ensured; otherwise, what remains is only beastliness.

Chen Zihang spread his hands, not making a clear stance, "I'm not sure, there are a few among that group I don't quite get along with."

Lu Heng thought about it and finally decided to save Hu Biao and his group.

It wasn't about being the good guy, but because keeping this group could still be useful.

"Tell me their location," asked Lu Heng.

"Go out and head northeast for about three kilometers," Chen Zihang pointed towards the castle's main gate.

Lu Heng found a piece of paper, wrote a few words on it, then had the scout eagle hold it and sent Su Muyu to control the scout eagle to search for people.

...

About half an hour later.

Hu Biao arrived at the castle with three others.

As soon as the four of them entered the castle gate, they collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, having reached their limits.

Their team originally had fifteen people; now, only four remained.

Gulu saw more people coming and immediately panicked, "So many burdens have arrived, this is trouble, the fortress's location will definitely be discovered by the Horned Demon Commander; we must evacuate quickly!"

Looking at his expression, he was considering driving Hu Biao and the others out of the castle.

Lu Heng gave him an idea, "Mining Flame Assistance Ore takes time; I think they can do it."

Gulu thought it was a good idea and said, "Alright. You can stay in the castle, but you must mine enough quantity of Flame Assistance Ore by tomorrow night, otherwise, I can only drive you out."

Hu Biao and the others panicked at the possibility of being driven out and promptly agreed, "We are willing to mine ore and will definitely mine enough in time."

Gulu pointed his finger at Lu Heng as a reminder, "And the crystals."

"I'll handle that," Lu Heng assured.

Gulu was very satisfied with the arrangement, turned, and walked into the central hall of the castle, starting to tinker with a strange, large machine.

...

After Hu Biao and the others drank some water and ate a bit, their energy was slightly restored.

That afternoon, Gulu hurried them to start mining.

The four, now nearly fully recovered, took their tools to the mining field.

It didn't take long for them to find out that the mining task was strenuous physical labor.

Among the four, a blond delinquent was naturally disinclined to heavy physical work and began to complain to Hu Biao, "Bro Biao, I saw that there's another task for finding crystals, and I think the rewards for that job are better."

Hu Biao frowned, feeling the same way but shook his head, "Since we're assigned to mine, we'll just mine. Just hold on until tomorrow night, that'll make it three days."

Seeing Hu Biao's stance, the blond delinquent said nothing further and quietly returned to mining.

That evening, after returning to Quenching Castle and having dinner.

Lu Heng retrieved the second Narnia Crystal, Gulu's attitude towards him was even warmer than before, which clearly indicated an increase in favorability.

Seeing this, the blond delinquent was even more displeased and began to speak sarcastically, "We can also see the task for collecting crystals, why can we only mine?"

His voice was loud, purposely meant for Lu Heng to hear.

Lu Heng glanced at him and responded with a cold tone, "There's another crystal to collect. Tomorrow you can come and try."

Since the task of collecting Narnia Crystals showed the reward as "Gulu's Gratitude Reward."

These tasks, which did not specify exact rewards, have a lot of flexibility in terms of rewards.

When Lu Heng chose the Aurora Blade, he was merely borrowing the weapon.

At the time, Gulu had said that if three Narnia Crystals could be retrieved, the Aurora Blade would be offered as a gratitude reward.

This was equivalent to specifying the reward.

However, rewards also have levels, the more perfectly the task is completed, the higher the reward received.

After communicating with Gulu, a hidden mission rule was confirmed: collect three crystals completely, and the reward is the Aurora Blade.

Thus, Lu Heng needed to retrieve all three Narnia Crystals.

If the blond delinquent dared to come and try, there really was nothing to discuss.

Since Lu Heng could save him, naturally, he could also send him off.

Hearing the murderous tone in Lu Heng's voice, Hu Biao quickly waved his hands, "That's not what we meant, we will mine earnestly, don't take it to heart."