Chapter 204: A Big Watermelon As Your Reward
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, hall master lounge.
After washing up, Lin Qi checked the time on his smart watch and found it was already nine in the morning. He then opened the system panel at the bottom of his vision and selected the martial arts hall roulette.
“The first draw of the morning will be you!”
Lin Qi watched the roulette spinning in his mind, saw a flash of purple, and immediately shouted for it to stop.
System: Congratulations to the host for obtaining a two-star reward: one large sausage.
“A two-star reward and this is what you give me?”
Lin Qi looked at the green prize in the system storage box and did not even know what to say.
A one-star reward being fruit was acceptable, but a two-star green reward actually being a large sausage? Did he look like someone who was short on meat?
The previous transport mission escorting the frontline had not only earned him five large boxes of blood essence, but also five corpses of the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake. Each of these snakes was more than thirty meters long, enough to fill a large transport vehicle by itself, weighing seventy to eighty tons. Five of them were close to four hundred tons.
If this large sausage had appeared when he had just arrived in this world, he would have been overjoyed. After all, synthetic food really did not taste good, but having synthetic food at all was already something.
Wanting to eat meat?
For an unregistered nomad who was not even an apprentice, that was pure fantasy.
But now, the flesh and blood of these Unicorn Golden Winged Snakes had even filled up the newly built freezer warehouse from the hall’s expansion. Even if tens of thousands of martial arts hall disciples were allowed to redeem as they wished, it would take an unknown amount of time to use it all.
Moreover, a considerable portion of the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake flesh and blood had been used by Yaklo to experiment with making berserk potions.
A single large sausage now was completely meaningless to him.
But out of curiosity, Lin Qi still took it out from the system storage box to check.
Magical Large Sausage: after eating it all, inspiration will erupt, and experience absorption will greatly increase for twelve hours.
“A cheat artifact?” Lin Qi was shocked as he looked at the attribute description.
He had to admit, a two-star reward was a two-star reward. Even a single large sausage could not be underestimated.
“This should be quite helpful for Luo Qi. Maybe it can help her achieve a breakthrough as a mechanic and use materials from the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake to make second-tier weapons and equipment.” Lin Qi looked at the large sausage in his hand and felt it suited Luo Qi very well.
He had given the flesh and blood of the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake to Yaklo for potion research, while the bones, teeth, and snake skin had been handed to Luo Qi to study new weapon and equipment.
As a top existence among high-level monsters, the hardness of the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake’s skin and bones was not much inferior to B5 and B6 alloys, and its sharpest teeth even surpassed B6 alloy, making them fully suitable for crafting second-tier weapons and equipment.
However, such processing and manufacturing techniques required large machine tools, and an ordinary mechanic could not accomplish it. Luo Qi had excellent talent as a mechanic but lacked opportunity. Large machine tools were each held at the headquarters of the four major powers, used to mass-produce B-grade weapons, which was far cheaper than buying directly from weapon shops. Now all of that belonged to him.
Of these four sets of large machine tools, two were given to Luo Qi and two to Yi Ye Fu Yun, who was so happy he could not sleep all night, devoting himself to learning how to operate them. As for Luo Qi, as a mechanic, she was already extremely skilled with such large machine tools and was now studying how to leverage the material properties of the Unicorn Golden Winged Snake to create the most suitable weapons and equipment.
For this research into the properties of Unicorn Golden Winged Snake materials, the Magical Large Sausage was undoubtedly very suitable.
Lin Qi then drew six more times in one go, hoping to get another one.
“As expected, a two-star reward is not that easy to draw.” Looking at the six consecutive one-star white rewards of five Vitality Fragrant Pears and one Qi and Blood Watermelon, Lin Qi could not help but sigh.
The probability for a two-star reward was one in ten. Getting one in a single draw before had been luck. Getting none in six draws was normal.
Clang clang clang!
Just as Lin Qi put away his newly drawn rewards, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
As soon as Lin Qi spoke, Lin Xinyao and Li Tianxing, both now just over two meters tall, came in, each carrying a large storage box on their back.
Standing together, the two of them looked like door gods, completely blocking the lounge entrance.
“What do you need?” Lin Qi glanced at them and noticed they were increasingly developing in the direction of the Hulk. Their figures were getting taller and sturdier, their bodies tougher, or rather, their body density was increasing, and their skin carried an indescribable sense of firmness.
“Hall master, we are here to hand in the task. This is Molten Crystal.” Lin Xinyao put down the storage box and directly showed the Molten Crystal inside to Lin Qi.
Li Tianxing opened his storage box as well for Lin Qi to inspect.
System: A large quantity of Molten Crystal detected. Absorb now?
“Absorb.” Lin Qi did not hesitate and directly chose to absorb everything.
In an instant, Lin Xinyao and Li Tianxing saw a black hole appear in Lin Qi’s palm, and both boxes of Molten Crystal were sucked in completely.
If anyone else had seen this, their jaw would probably have dropped, but Lin Xinyao and Li Tianxing were entirely unfazed.
An NPC collecting items and carrying a four-dimensional space on him was the most normal thing in the world.
System: Congratulations to the host for completing the task “Molten Crystal”. Reward: construction permission for a Beginner Meditation Room. Current Molten Crystal: 17,215 units.
System: The host currently has 17,215 units of Molten Crystal, satisfying the 15,000-unit requirement for building a Beginner Meditation Room. Convert a room in the martial arts hall into a Beginner Meditation Room now?
“Convert.” Seeing that it could be done immediately, Lin Qi did not hesitate and chose to convert, turning the newly expanded third-floor training room into a Beginner Meditation Room.
Recently, the hall had recruited over a thousand construction workers to expand the martial arts hall. Whether they had been driven by the players or had their own plans, they worked extremely hard.
The expansion plan, originally estimated to take a month, was already nearly completed. The third floor of the hall had been built, and three training rooms on the first floor made entirely of B2 alloy refined from Ancient Bronze Ore had also been completed.
Because many had applied for VIP status at the hall, these three rooms had earned him a total of fourteen Energy Crystals, which had already been invested yesterday to convert into a Primary Gravity Room, to be completed tomorrow. As for ten Primary Training Rooms, they would all be finished today.
Right now, the only thing missing at Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was the newly extended courtyard, which was not yet done. Once it was completed, the entire hall would meet the system’s requirements for an advanced martial arts hall.
System: Conversion to a Beginner Meditation Room will be completed in three days. Please be patient, host.
“Good! Now the martial arts hall finally looks like a proper hall.” Lin Qi felt quite gratified as he read the system prompt.
The first floor would have Primary Training Rooms and a Primary Gravity Room, the second floor mainly lounges, and the third floor the Beginner Meditation Room. With that, the martial arts hall’s functions were complete. From now on, not only players but also local residents could cultivate properly, without needing to risk their lives the way players did.
“Hall master, is our task complete?” Seeing Lin Qi silent for a long time, Lin Xinyao could not help but ask softly.
Her question brought Lin Qi back to the fact there were still two waiting little players here.
“It’s complete, and you even overfulfilled it.” Lin Qi nodded with a smile. “So in addition to your original reward, I will give you an extra reward.”
“An extra reward?” Lin Xinyao looked at Lin Qi excitedly, curious what good thing he would add.
This task had been taken after the system update, so it did not show any difficulty level, but she was sure it was not low. It had been an ultra-high-level map, and the mechanical man was too powerful, always one level above them, fighting at the microscopic level.
If Lu Fanchen had not created Heaven Shaking Fist, they would never have been able to complete it. Even if Luo Wu Shang and the other martial artists had come, they would still have been crushed by the mechanical man.
For completing such a task, their reward had actually not been much.
Now hearing there was an extra reward, Lin Xinyao could not help being excited.
“Here, this is your extra reward.” Lin Qi handed over a large watermelon that had been sitting on the table for quite a while to Lin Xinyao.
“Just one big watermelon as extra reward?” Lin Xinyao stared blankly at the large green watermelon in her hands, identical to those on Blue Star.
To complete the task, each of them had probably died over a hundred times. Every death cost
That amount of 648 on Blue Star could buy who knew how many big watermelons, yet in High Martial Arts Descend they had spent hundreds of thousands just to buy the feeling of eating watermelon in-game?
“Hall master, can we switch to another reward?” Li Tianxing could not help but ask Lin Qi.
Although eating watermelon in a 100% virtual game was a nice experience, he would much rather log off and enjoy it in reality.
“Rewards cannot be changed.” Lin Qi shook his head and glared at Li Tianxing. “You completed this task so well that I decided to give you this big watermelon. Do you think this is an ordinary big watermelon? This is a watermelon with attributes.”
“A watermelon with attributes?” Startled, Li Tianxing looked at the big watermelon in Lin Xinyao’s hands.
“It really is! This is an attribute watermelon.” After a closer look, Lin Xinyao realized it did have attributes.
Qi and Blood Watermelon: eating one-eighth of it increases qi and blood limit by 30% for six hours.
“If you do not want it, you can give it back.” Lin Qi reached out to take it.
He had drawn this big watermelon as a reward earlier and had left it for days. He was worried it would spoil, so he planned to give it to players to eat.
A 30% increase to qi and blood limit was a divine item for local residents seeking a breakthrough, especially for older martial artists with declining qi and blood. Their skill level was already sufficient; their only obstacle was insufficient qi and blood. With this Qi and Blood Watermelon, they could easily break through.
But Lin Xinyao reacted quickly, stepped back at once, and ran out the door, not giving Lin Qi any chance to touch it.
“Hall master, I was just joking earlier. I love eating watermelon more than anything.” Seeing Lin Qi ready to take the watermelon back, Li Tianxing hurriedly explained.
A 30% boost to qi and blood limit was extremely helpful for them, who had already reached 100% proficiency in the First Level Breathing Technique, in breaking through. If Lin Qi took it back, who knew how long it would be before they could complete their class change.
Out on the training ground, players watched in astonishment as Lin Xinyao burst out of the hall master lounge hugging a big watermelon, her face full of joy.
“What is going on? So excited… did she steal a melon from the hall master lounge?”
“No way she stole it. What kind of NPC is the hall master? He can make us log off permanently. Even with a hundred lives, they wouldn’t dare steal his melon.”
“I just saw the two of them carry in two large storage boxes. It is probably a task reward.”
“The task reward is just a melon? Are veteran players doing that badly now?”
The newbie players present looked at Lin Xinyao, her smile nearly reaching her ears as she hugged the watermelon, and suddenly felt that grinding this game so hard might not be a good thing. A mission reward of a big watermelon could make veteran players this happy; clearly their brains had been over-grinded into something strange.
Lin Xinyao ran up to the second floor and arrived at Lu Fanchen’s lounge.
Inside, Lu Fanchen, who had just resurrected, was organizing his insights on Heaven Shaking Fist on the table, preparing to submit them to the hall to earn instructor points and raise his instructor level.
At present, players had only two fast ways to earn contribution. The first was to hunt monsters in the wilderness: five hundred contribution for a low-level monster, one thousand five hundred for a mid-level monster, and five thousand for a high-level monster.
The second way was to teach NPCs. A one-star instructor earned two thousand martial arts hall points and one hundred contribution for a two-hour class. One hundred contribution in two hours was not much, but it was stable.
If they taught for twelve hours a day, that was a stable six hundred contribution. It might not match a mid-level monster, but it was more than a single low-level monster.
But now in the wilderness, low-level monsters were almost nowhere to be seen. Or rather, they had become food for mid-level monsters. Finding one was pure luck. Most of what players encountered were mid-level monsters.
Mid-level monsters could not be killed by ordinary martial artist players. They came in groups, and even for experts with Level One Wilderness Exploration Permission, killing just one in a night was not easy, unless they used a Desert Eagle-type coilgun for precise attacks within a hundred meters to quickly kill them. But the Desert Eagle consumed too many Energy Crystals and was not a good method for grinding contribution to become a core disciple.
Martial artist players could also hand-craft a super electromagnetic cannon to fight mid-level monsters in close combat, but that usually ended in mutual destruction: one shot killed the mid-level monster, but the monster’s claw would also kill the player, even through B2 battle armor.
If it were only mutual destruction, that would be one thing. The key problem was that the corpse would quickly become food for other monsters, leaving the player with nothing and a death on top of it. And since mid-level monsters moved in packs of three to five or more, finding a lone one was very difficult.
Because of this, many expert players were now focusing on improving their instructor rank.
A one-star instructor earned one hundred contribution per class, while a two-star instructor earned two hundred. A three-star instructor made four hundred per class, and a four-star instructor eight hundred. If they were willing to teach, they could steadily earn 4,800 contribution a day, far faster than hunting as beginner martial artists.
To raise instructor rank, besides teaching NPCs, they could also submit complete self-created martial skills to earn instructor points. Submitting a rank five martial skill gave fifty points, a rank six gave two hundred, a rank seven gave five hundred, and a rank eight gave one thousand five hundred.
Promotion from one-star to two-star required one hundred instructor points.
Promotion from two-star to three-star required four hundred points.
Promotion from three-star to four-star required one thousand points.
Promotion from four-star to five-star required three thousand points.
So as long as someone created one rank eight martial skill, or two rank seven martial skills, they could immediately become a four-star instructor and then earn contribution at an incredible speed.
“Xinyao, how did it go? Is the task done?” Lu Fanchen looked at the cheerful Lin Xinyao entering the room, curious whether they had completed the task. After all, he had no concept of how much ten thousand units of Molten Crystal actually was.
If they did not get enough in one trip, they would have to try a few more times.
“It’s done, and we even overfulfilled it. The hall master gave us an extra reward.” Lin Xinyao nodded.
“Extra reward? What is it?” Lu Fanchen asked expectantly.
“This.” Lin Xinyao pulled out a large green watermelon, several times bigger than a basketball.
“A big watermelon as reward?” Lu Fanchen stared at the watermelon in disbelief.
“No! This is not an ordinary watermelon. It is a watermelon with attributes.” Lin Xinyao repeated what Lin Qi had said, her tone excited. “As long as we eat one-eighth, our blood qi limit will increase by 30% for six hours. Our breathing technique is already at 100% proficiency for the first level. With this watermelon, we might be able to break through and become martial artists today.”
The three of them had already redeemed the Second Layer Cultivation Method for their class change, and they were thoroughly familiar with the energy stimulation. They were only lacking that final push to complete full-body energy stimulation.
“Become martial artists today?” Lu Fanchen’s eyes burned with enthusiasm.
As long as the three of them became martial artists, Mythical Paradise would have caught up to Heavenly Might’s heels.
Lu Fanchen and the others then cut the watermelon, each taking two slices back to their lounge to attempt their breakthrough to martial artist. The remaining two slices were carefully stored in a refrigerated storage box, to later reward other meritorious members of the guild.
While Lu Fanchen and the others were attacking the martial artist bottleneck.
On the other side, on a mountain more than sixty kilometers from Crimson Moon Mountain, Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang and Fang Zhen were each holding a shovel made of B2 alloy, digging holes all over the mountain.
“As you said, Xiao Yuan, this metal ore vein here should be B3-level Mithril Ore. I did not expect you to find something like this.” Fang Zhen looked at the silver-gray ore that could not be broken at all by the B2 alloy shovel, his eyes full of ecstasy.
B3-level Primordial Ore, with some materials added, could be turned into B4 or higher alloys. This stuff was priceless.
“I had some friends offline who are experts in geology look into it. I sent them the geographic data for this area, and they thought there was a high chance of an ore vein here. I came to dig and did not expect it to be B3-level Mithril Ore.” Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang said with a smile. “So, cooperating with me is worth it, isn’t it?”
“More than worth it, this is a huge win.” Fang Zhen nodded repeatedly as he looked at such a large mountain.
Since Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang was acting alone, even though they had taught a few newbies and sometimes moved together, it would be impossible to claim such a large mine by herself. That was why she had come to him for cooperation. Once they became core disciples, they would join forces to secure this mountain. Just selling Mithril Ore would make them rich in High Martial Arts Descend, and they would never have to worry about cultivation resources again.
While they were talking, the sound of transport vehicles driving up suddenly reached their ears.
“Someone is coming!” Fang Zhen looked toward the source of the sound.
They saw a line of large transport vehicles driving slowly toward the Mithril mine mountain. The vehicles bore the emblem of Wanxing City, indicating these people were from Wanxing City, not some wilderness gang.
“What are people from Wanxing City doing here?” Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang stared in confusion at the approaching transport vehicles. With a glance, she could see there were more than forty of them, which definitely qualified as a large convoy.
When the vehicles stopped at the foot of the mountain and a large group of people in miner clothing got off, Xiao Yuan Ye Feng Kuang and Fang Zhen’s expressions both changed.
“Damn! They are here to steal our mine!”
