TSA Chapter 58

They had already completed their dungeon run this morning, so they decided to team up and grind monsters in the wild to level up. Ran Qi and Gu Le were still about 30% away from reaching level 40, and they would likely hit that milestone today. Tomorrow, once Night Owl and his team finished the second round of the regional competition, they could tackle the newly refreshed dungeon.

Jiang Nan’s group wasn’t as efficient as Night Owl’s team, so they still needed to grind out experience in the EXP dungeon.

“I remember there’s a pest extermination recurring quest in the main city. How about we take the quest before we start grinding?” Ran Qi suggested.

“Wouldn’t that be too much trouble…?” Soul Chaser and the others weren’t too keen on the quest experience. With the time wasted running back and forth, they could already be farming multiple waves of monsters, which would definitely yield far more experience than some recurring quest.

“It’s not a hassle. I have a targeted teleportation scroll. We can just set the teleport points at the main city NPC and the monster area.” Ran Qi insisted.

Targeted teleportation scrolls could record a specific location, allowing the user to teleport there directly next time. A basic scroll had three uses, an intermediate scroll had five, and an advanced scroll had seven. At Ran Qi’s current level, he could already craft intermediate scrolls.

Ran Qi had a deep impression of this cycle quest because it required killing many monsters while offering minimal rewards. At first, no players paid attention to it. Later, a player who enjoyed grinding quests for achievements took on this quest. With patience, they slowly completed it, only to discover that the quest rewards increased with each completed stage. By the final stage, the accumulated rewards were incredibly generous. That player then shared their findings in a forum post.

Many players followed their guide and completed the quest, with some even triggering hidden quests. However, by that time, Ran Qi had already reached max level. When he saw the forum post, he only skimmed through it and didn’t remember the specific steps to trigger the hidden quest—a fact he now slightly regretted.

Regardless, since he was just leeching experience from the team, using a scroll to contribute a little was the least he could do. Besides, a basic teleportation scroll only cost 10 silver, which was absolutely worth it.

“Alright then! Let’s go! Brother Ran, lead us to the quest!” Soul Chaser immediately changed his tune. Since they didn’t have to run there on foot, he was more than happy to take the quest. Plus, they could clear out their inventory when they returned to the city—perfect!

Ran Qi led the group to the Adventurer’s Guild. At the guild entrance, a bulletin board displayed various quests posted by NPCs. Ran Qi carefully searched and finally found an aged, yellowed sheet of paper in an inconspicuous corner. Due to its age, most of the writing had faded, but he could still vaguely make out that it was a commission for adventurers to eliminate magical beasts.

Ran Qi placed the paper into his inventory, and the entire party received a quest notification.

[System] You have successfully accepted a bounty quest. Please find the quest issuer [Buck].

The NPC who posted the quest, Buck, was a down-on-his-luck hunter running a small shop selling beast pelts in one of the most overlooked corners of the main city. Following the map, the group made their way there. The once-bustling streets gradually became quieter until they arrived at a secluded alley where Buck’s shop was located.

The place was in terrible condition. The stone pavement was cracked, and a strange medicinal smell lingered in the air as they stepped inside. Cabinets were filled with various animal pelts, and the walls displayed taxidermied heads of ferocious beasts.

“Hello, is anyone here?” Ran Qi asked politely.

“I’m coming.” A deep voice responded as a burly man with a full beard and a rugged build pushed aside the curtain from the back room and limped forward. He wore a vest made of beast hide, and his exposed skin was covered in scars—particularly the three claw marks over his left eye, likely a souvenir from a past battle with a fierce beast.

“Who are you?” Buck frowned slightly as he looked them over. Their well-equipped outfits indicated they were well-off adventurers, not the type who would usually visit his humble shop for ordinary pelts.

“We’re from the Adventurer’s Guild. You posted a quest on the bulletin board, and we happened to see it, so we came to check it out.” Ran Qi explained, taking out the aged quest paper.

“You… you’re willing to accept the quest?” Buck’s one remaining eye instantly lit up, his voice carrying a hint of disbelief.

“Of course.” Ran Qi answered firmly.

“That’s great!” Buck visibly brightened. “Thank you so much!”

[System] You have successfully accepted the quest [Buck’s Commission 1]. Quest Objective: Eliminate 1,000 Demonized Black Bears. Quest Rewards: 20,000 EXP, 10 Silver Coins. Current Quest Completion: (0/1000).

Recurring quests are a special type of quest, with difficulty scaling based on the party’s average level. This meant they needed to hunt Level 40 Demonized Black Bears.

“Why is the reward so low?” Gu Le couldn’t help but show a surprised expression when he saw the quest panel. Black Bears were Level 40 monsters, tough to kill, and they had to take down 1,000 of them. He could understand the low EXP reward, but why was the money reward only 10 silver? It felt like they were being thrown scraps like beggars.

“The rewards increase later on. Let’s go, let’s go!” Ran Qi reassured him. “Bear paws are delicious, you know!”

Although bears had become protected animals on 21st-century Earth and bear paws were rarely eaten anymore, Braised Bear Paw had once been an imperial delicacy in ancient times. The cooking method had been passed down, and Ran Qi had watched a tutorial on how to prepare it out of boredom before. Now, he finally had the chance to taste it in the game.

“Alright! Let’s go!” At the mention of food, Gu Le’s expression changed instantly, and he couldn’t wait to rush to Black Mountain to start hunting bears.

Since they didn’t have mounts, they had to travel on foot. Fortunately, Ran Qi had speed potions, which helped them move a little faster. After crossing two maps and walking for about ten minutes, they finally arrived at the quest location, following the coordinates.

Dozens of Black Bears were wandering around the forest. The moment they saw Ran Qi and his team approach, they immediately charged forward.

Their party was highly efficient at farming monsters. Gu Le held up his shield and firmly tanked the bears’ aggro, while the others skillfully unleashed their abilities, quickly taking down wave after wave of Black Bears.

As the bears fell one after another, Ran Qi quickly summoned his loot-collecting expert—Xiao Bai—from his pet space. Whenever a player logged off, the system would automatically store their pet in the pet space. Since Ran Qi had been offline for a while due to watching the tournament and having a group meal, he had almost forgotten to summon it.

The little dragon cub let out a series of babyish howls upon being released, seemingly venting its frustration at being kept in the pet space for so long. However, it soon flapped its tiny wings enthusiastically and began picking up loot.

Seeing this, Night Owl also summoned Xiao Hei. Unlike Xiao Bai, however, Xiao Hei had no interest in picking up trash. Instead, it occupied its usual spot on Night Owl’s shoulder and went right back to sleep.

Both Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei were now Level 9. Pets gained experience when their owners cleared dungeons, making them highly desirable companions—not just for their loot-collecting abilities but also because they provided stat bonuses to their owners.

Night Owl’s base stats were already incredibly high. Thanks to his first-clear achievements and various level-based titles, his stat panel displayed absurdly high numbers. With Xiao Hei’s additional buffs, his damage reached new heights, allowing him to wipe out monsters almost as fast as the system could respawn them.

Ran Qi wasn’t idle either. He wielded his butcher’s knife and swiftly skinned the Black Bears while their corpses were still fresh. Their hides were extremely tough and had an attractive color, making them excellent materials for crafting armor. Naturally, he also collected the bear paws—this was his chance to finally taste them.

Even as he focused on dismantling the bears, Ran Qi kept an eye on his teammates’ HP, occasionally casting healing spells to keep them in peak condition.

1,000 Black Bears seemed like a lot, but they managed to finish the quest in under 30 minutes. Using a directional teleportation scroll to return to the city, they quickly turned in their quest and accepted the next one.

[System] You have successfully accepted the quest [Buck’s Commission 2]. Quest Objective: Eliminate 1,000 Demonized Tigers. Quest Rewards: 40,000 EXP, 20 Silver Coins. Current Quest Completion: (0/1000).

As expected, the second quest’s rewards had doubled. Though still somewhat low, it at least gave them a sense of progress.

The territory of the Demonized Tigers was not far from where they had hunted the Demonized Black Bears. After turning in the quest, they teleported back and walked just a short distance before reaching the area.

Tigers, like bears, were full of valuable materials. Tiger bones could be used for weapons, tiger gallbladders and tiger whips were ingredients for alchemy, and tiger pelts were beautifully patterned, making them great for crafting armor. Ran Qi even considered making a Monkey King-style tiger-skin skirt just for fun.

He also planned to use the collected pelts to craft a new set of armor for everyone. They were already over Level 40—it wouldn’t make sense to keep wearing Level 30 gear.

They kept grinding wave after wave of monsters, and by the eighth quest, the rewards had become extremely lucrative—almost double the normal EXP rate. This further motivated the party to continue farming.

With their incredible efficiency, Ran Qi and Gu Le soon reached Level 40, successfully breaking into the top 50 of the level rankings. Among those 50 players, Ran Qi was the only Priest. Feng Tian, though already at Level 38, was still far behind—the gap of just one level made a significant difference in ranking.

After three hours of relentless farming, they had practically wiped out every single beast at the foot of Black Mountain. If these creatures had intelligence, they would have probably fled in terror long ago.

Just as they were fully engrossed in their monster farming, a furious roar suddenly echoed through the forest, sending a massive shockwave through the air. Even the surrounding tree branches trembled.

They looked up and saw a massive white tiger, four to five meters tall, leaping down from the mountaintop. Its landing shook the ground violently, and its massive red eyes, each the size of a fist, gleamed with murderous intent.

This was the Level 45 World Boss—White Tiger King. The massacre of its underlings had probably enraged it and finally decided to step in.

However, what would have made most players scream in terror and flee had no such effect on Night Owl’s party. They showed no signs of fear or retreat. Instead, they all cracked their knuckles in anticipation, eager to take down the boss for its loot.

Even Ran Qi immediately put away his butcher’s knife and pulled out his staff, preparing for battle. At the same time, he was already calculating his gains.

He had always loved the color white. With the White Tiger King’s massive size, he could definitely craft an entire set of White Tiger gear. Finally, he could replace his current Wild Boar set.

Just the name ‘White Tiger Set’ alone sounded much more imposing.