My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 272: Harvest
The main mission settlement is done, it's time to leave. Ning Huchen reluctantly held onto Li Rui's sleeve, continually giving him advice.
At this moment, the countdown had already begun, and everyone would soon be teleported out of the Secret Realm.
"If you ever come to the Capital City, you must look for your old brother. By then, the battles will surely be over, and I will treat you well."
He lowered his voice slyly, "I'll find eighteen Western Region concubines for you, hehe."
Li Rui couldn't hold back his laughter. This general seemed quite serious in battle, but it turned out he was a bit of an old perv.
The group bid farewell and left, descending the mountain path of the Cyan Cloud Plateau.
The setting was that they were on the Liangting army's side, invited by the Grand General. Now that they had completed the mission, it was time to report back.
The group chatted casually as they cheerfully made their way down the mountain.
Nan Jiumei thought to himself, it's really true that just by saying he leveled up four or five levels, he actually did.
"Now Brother Chuan is only at level 47." He nudged Li Rui with his elbow, "Hey, if we get matched up together next time, I might even catch up to him!"
"....."
Li Rui was speechless; he had seen Dong Sanchuan in action. To be honest, even if the level matched, Nan Jiumei would still likely have some gap compared to him.
Attributes, skills, talents, class, even character and combat experience all come together to form overall combat power, not to mention Dong Sanchuan's stats were already high.
While the two were talking, a new prompt suddenly appeared.
[All Secret Realm agents, please note: A new 36-40 level seven-star Secret Realm, Cyan Cloud Plateau Defense Battle, has been added to the draw sequence.]
"Haha, what a coincidence, just in time to add a Cyan Cloud....."
Nan Jiumei got stuck halfway through his sentence, "Could it be something we caused?"
Suddenly he realized, "I get it, because the army led by Ning Huchen suffered almost no losses, they could occupy Cyan Cloud Plateau."
Generally speaking, to complete this nine-star Secret Realm, one must leverage the Liangting army's power. After the battle, most would almost be dying and unable to continue defending, having to retreat.
But now, occupying the advantageous position of Cyan Cloud Plateau, the small groups of Demon Beasts nearby couldn't be defeated quickly. Then the main force of Liangting army could send reinforcements to take this critical food route.
The other four lifted their spirits: "It means we've made it into the narrative!"
Since a new Secret Realm has opened, it shows that this story was recognized by the Secret Realm, even recorded in the annals of Liangting as Rui, along with several others, decisively defeated the Demon Beasts, seized their supplies, and occupied Cyan Cloud Plateau.
They were that "several others"!
Of course, the most critical thing is if, in future Secret Realms, they meet Ning Huchen or any NPCs they have a chance to encounter again, they might gain some advantages.
Li Rui felt a bit regretful: "What a pity, these seven-star sieges generally have a lot of rewards, but I've out-leveled it."
He just felt slightly regretful since it was now proven that the Thunder Generals under the Barbarian Emperor were indeed related to the long-term mission's Dragon Thunder branch, he better cherish the opportunity to fight at Golden Scale Marsh, where other Barbarian Generals must be deeper inside.
Soon, the countdown ended, and Li Rui opened his eyes, walking out of the awakening room with Nan Jiumei, assisted by logistics personnel.
"Surprisingly, no one came to pick us up," Nan Jiumei muttered.
"It's normal, the Secret Realm battlefield is about to start, I guess everyone's preparing right now."
"Then I'll head to the base to find Brother Chuan and the others first."
Nan Jiumei said, Dong Sanchuan was his direct captain in the Secret Realm battlefield, he now needed to report the situation.
Li Rui said, "You go ahead, I need to enhance my equipment."
After the two parted ways, he first made a brief tally of his gains.
He had quite a few Epic and rare materials, and he'd only look at them when going for enhancement later.
Mainly, he needed to first recognize the Epic-level items given by the Ranli side mission.
[Fangs of the Giant Python.]
[Type: Hidden Weapon.]
[Quality: Epic.]
[Effect: Throw to cause tons of damage.]
In short, this is a damage-type item. Generally, the damage from Epic-level consumables shouldn't be any less than the original All Heaven Thunder Fire Spell, to reach higher it would have to be Legendary Level.
But items have the advantage that, in certain special situations, if skill casting is prohibited, they might provide amazing results.
The next one is a liquid in a small bottle.
[Snake Gall Essence.]
[Type: Drug.]
[Quality: Epic.]
[Effect: Increases the damage of the next three active damage skills by 80%.]
[Note: It might be a bit bitter.]
A high-end version of the Great Void Wind-Thunder Talisman, that one increases by 100% once, this has a slightly reduced magnitude but multiplies by three times.
The last one.
[Python Shedding.]
[Type: Item.]
[Effect: Summons snake sheddings to form a wall to block damage.]
Basically, it's similar to Ranli's Divine Power, shedding a layer of skin to preserve oneself, can be used as a lifesaving card or to protect mission objectives during protection tasks.
Li Rui discovered two problems; first is that his means of self-preservation are increasing.
He has Endless Life for recovery, the Python Shedding for substitution, and Rewind for trickery.
If he manages to obtain a Legendary Level lifesaver in the future, it would be hard for him to die.
The second problem is that his Epic-level items are accumulating.
He used a Great Void Wind-Thunder Talisman and received three more.
What sets him apart is that, while others can also obtain Epic-level items, they can't get them every Secret Realm, whereas Li Rui clears not only the bosses in every Secret Realm but a whole bunch of random tasks as well.
And since he's strong enough not to need frequent use, he's able to accumulate more and more naturally.
As for skill points, Li Rui acquired three more. He spent two on the Great Fire Bell Spell and the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture, and with some hesitation, spent the last one on Da Beidou.
Unsurprisingly, the annihilation attribute became advanced, with a damage bonus increase of 10%, now totaling 30%.
By now, his three main attack skills were all at Lv5, the highest level before level 50. However, the levels for Mist Control and Submerged Dragon's First Posture weren't keeping up. The former is mostly used to obscure enemy vision by creating mist, which isn't a big issue, but the latter, being just a rare-grade, might need a higher replacement.
Next is the segment Li Rui was most looking forward to — the unboxing session. Three bosses yielded three Epic-level equipment pieces, quite some spoils before entering the Secret Realm battlefield.
The first new equipment.
[Dragon Elephant Greaves.]
[Item Level: 40.] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
[Quality: Epic.]
[Attributes: Defense +22, Constitution +18.]
[Special Effect 1: Physical Resistance +10%.]
[Special Effect 2: Additional +10 Constitution.]
[Eternal: Yes.]
The original equipment here was a rare Martial Elite Greaves from the dojo with average attributes and a special effect of Physical Resistance +5%, nothing else.
This leg equipment is clearly a reward from the Xiang Hun mission and obviously inherits his characteristics, summarized in one word, power.
Combined with its special effects, it increases 28 points of attributes, while the Elite Greaves, leveled up to the same level with other materials, only added 10 points.
The second piece of equipment comes from Ranli.
[Python Skin Gloves.]
[Item Level: 40.]
[Quality: Epic]
[Attributes: Defense +15, Spirit +7, Power +7]
[Special Effect 1: Staff-type skill damage +8%.]
[Special Effect 2: Poison Element Resistance +7%]
[Eternal: Yes.]
The original equipment at this position was the rare Flower Rock Wrap from Silent Forest rewards, it was time for an honorable retirement, the Epic-level one was obviously superior, the staff could be paired with umbrella-type weapons, poison resistance would also be helpful against Brother Zuo.
The last one couldn't have a lower substitute, it was an Epic-level accessory.
[White-tail Pendant.]
[Item Level: 40.]
[Quality: Epic]
[Attributes: Spirit +8.]
[Special Effect 1: Thunder Attribute damage +10%.]
[Special Effect 2: You can understand the language of all monkey species.]
[Eternal: Yes.]
The accessories slot only has two, one of which is unconditionally equipped with the Fire Bell, so I had to replace the other slot where the Agile Amulet resided.
The Agile Amulet is also Epic-level, but because of its rare attribute for reducing Spiritual Power consumption and low equipping level, it was rated Epic. However, now Li Rui is different than before.
The Soul Bone Pendant also has a Spiritual Power reducing trait, and more importantly, his own Spirit attribute has increased, so he doesn't run out of mana as easily as he used to, making the replacement possible.
The pendant's Thunder Attribute damage boost is obviously practical, but the other monkey language.....
"What on earth."
According to the description, the monkeys spoken of aren't those categorized by the kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species system in the real world, but ones recognized by the Secret Realm.
Although the Secret Realm system includes translation, it only applies to proper languages — ordinary beasts, or howling by some Barbaric Beasts, aren't translated. When searching for Dragon Thunder in the Golden Scale Marsh, this might turn out useful someday.
Regardless, this was a big haul of equipment, with two regrets: firstly, the Vajra Umbrella is clearly becoming less effective without a replacement weapon.
The other thing is, still no ring; as of now, Li Rui still wears a green excellent-grade ring.
