Chapter 63: Commissioned Task

For any creature, the transition from level nine to level ten is a major threshold, bringing an all-around massive enhancement.

Let alone being only level seven right now, even if he were already level nine, he wouldn't choose to challenge it.

Needless to think about it, he simply couldn't beat it!

"Huh? Why are you back again?"

Passing by the treasure room, the mimic was quite surprised to see Qin Yuan return so soon.

"I suddenly remembered something, leaving for now."

After offering a greeting, Qin Yuan walked toward the entrance portal.

"Wait! Don't leave yet. Don't you want the clear reward? The reward for clearing the second floor is a legendary staff!"

Seeing that Qin Yuan's steps did not stop in the slightest, the mimic shouted hastily, "If you don't want to fight, fine, but wait a moment. I have something important to tell you."

"Hmm?" Hearing this, Qin Yuan stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at it with a puzzled expression: "What is it?"

"Ahem... Well, I admit I originally intended to trick you, and that was my fault, but you didn't lose out, did you? You got away with so many benefits for free."

Qin Yuan nodded: "And then?"

"So, could you do me a small favor?"

"Speak."

"Well... due to some special circumstances, I am unable to leave this underground space, so I want to make a deal with you—a proper one!" The mimic snorted. "You provide coins to me, and I won't take them for free; I'll trade items with you. After all, I really do have quite a lot of good things in here. Of course, it would be even better if you could find some ancient coins or similar items."

"I'm familiar with this." Qin Yuan came to a sudden realization:

"You're giving me a commission quest, asking me to collect coins to trade with you for things."

"Gold coins work too!" the mimic added.

"Gold coins..." Qin Yuan quickly pulled a gold coin from his pocket: "Is it like the beginning? My demands aren't high either; how about two gold coins for a rare staff?"

"You're overthinking it." The mimic rolled its eyes: "If you want a rare staff, it starts at least at four gold coins."

"Oh, so you actually know the approximate price..." Qin Yuan smiled slightly: "Well, that's pretty expensive then. Trading with gold coins isn't really cost-effective."

"After all, gold coins are just a light snack to me. I used to be sick of eating them, but I haven't had any in many years, so I occasionally want a taste for nostalgia."

At this point, the mimic suddenly lowered its voice and said, "Let me tell you, the things I can trade are not just limited to these. If you can collect some ancient currency I've never seen before, I can also reveal some other intelligence—for example... about this underground space, and some other secrets you definitely don't know. Heh heh, that can also be part of the deal."

"Fine then... I'll keep an eye out for you and see if I can find any."

Qin Yuan nodded and stepped into the light gate.

...

Walking through the dungeon forest, Qin Yuan recalled the commission from just now and came up with an idea.

Trading with gold coins didn't seem very cost-effective.

However, didn't it say it wanted him to collect some strange and unusual coins?

Such things might be hard to find in the Spirit Realm, but there were still quite a few in the real world.

He just didn't know if they would suit its taste.

He could always try it another day; anyway, it wouldn't cost much money.

"What should we do with this cave entrance?"

Arriving at the entrance, Qin Yuan discussed the matter with the Whispering Grimoire.

After all, the second floor of the Trial Tower was already so difficult that the subsequent floors would undoubtedly increase in difficulty, making it clearly impossible to clear in a short time.

They had to find a way to conceal this area, otherwise it would be terrible if someone else discovered it.

In the end, the two decided to use the simplest method.

"Let's just find some stones to block it up. After all, a normal person wouldn't think of digging through it just to take a look."

Executing the plan wasn't too difficult. Using magic to shatter a boulder, Qin Yuan tossed it into his storage pouch and then transported it to the door of the underground tunnel.

After bustling about for a while, the entrance was successfully sealed.

At least from the outside, it was completely impossible to tell anything was amiss.

"Let's leave it at that!"

Dusting off his hands, Qin Yuan was quite satisfied with this engineering project.

...

After finishing the exploration of this dungeon, Qin Yuan devoted the remaining time to farming monsters deep within the forest.

By the way, he replaced his bonded staff with the End Staff acquired from the Trial Tower.

Since it was an epic-grade staff, its tier spoke for itself.

Moreover, Qin Yuan discovered that the effect of that shadow form could actually be cast instantly.

Although the cooldown was slightly longer, it was definitely a life-saving divine skill in critical moments.

As for the burning damage of the shadow flame from the blue entry, it was likewise not low.

Along the way, he also paid a visit to the floating island, discovering that the mana crystals refined by the slimes were nearing completion.

The next time he entered the Spirit Realm, on the first or second day, he should be able to harvest them.

Because the massive amount of experience points provided by the wave of gray-skinned gargoyles, Qin Yuan finally raised his level to eight on the last day.

The emotionless prompt tone of the system rang out.

[Your level has risen to level eight. Your class is detected as "Mage". Influenced by the power of the "Spirit" contract, you can choose one of the following three magic runes to acquire.]

[Mental Enhancement ★ Rare: Passive skill, increases your mental power by 5 points.]

[Group Healing Blessing ★ Rare: Active skill, casts a blessing on all creatures within a certain range around you, slowly restoring health over a certain period of time. Higher mana consumption.]

[Mana Drain ★ Rare: Active skill, locks onto a target and conducts a judgment check. Upon successful judgment, as long as the distance between both parties does not exceed two hundred meters, you can continuously drain mana from them for five minutes. (The greater the difference in mental power between the two, the higher the success rate.)]

...

"They all feel... kind of trashy."

Qin Yuan looked at the three spell options appearing before him, feeling somewhat awkward.

The first one belonged to a relatively rare passive skill, but the crucial point was... this thing didn't quite suit him.

The primary direction of mental power enhancement was for classes like "Summoner Mage" and "Psychic Mage."

Among the spells he had mastered, the only one remotely related was the Bear Spirit Summoning technique.

However, if it only adapted to this single spell, needless to say, a huge portion of its effect would be directly wasted.

In any case, the value it unleashed definitely wouldn't reach the level of a rare spell.

As for the group blessing, let's not even mention it; it was simply trash.

The only one with a sliver of usefulness seemed to be this final Mana Drain.

The effect of this thing was actually decent, but its flaw was its rather narrow application.

After all, whether warriors or monsters, they basically didn't have mana pools.

It could basically only be used when engaging in PvP against mages.

With no other options, Qin Yuan ultimately had to choose Mana Drain.

...

In the afternoon, returning to the village, Qin Yuan arrived at the entrance of the alchemy shop.

"Customer, it's ready~"

Noticing Qin Yuan, the Mirror Spirit took out the completed magic robe from the counter.

This was an azure-blue robe, and touching it felt as smooth as silk.

...

[Ice-Gleam Robe ★ (Rare): A magical item crafted by a magic artisan. Draped over the body, it increases magic resistance.]

[①: Your resistance to fire-attribute spells is enhanced. (White).]

[②: To a certain extent, it increases your mana recovery speed. (Blue).]

...

Originally, Qin Yuan's initial expectation was to craft a black robe, thinking it would provide better concealment during nighttime operations.

Unfortunately, the alchemy shop happened to be out of relevant magic dyes, leaving only a choice between blue and purple.

Although somewhat helpless, he could only choose blue.

Of course, in terms of appearance, this sky-like azure blue was definitely much better-looking.

Not bad, not bad...

Pondering for a moment, Qin Yuan was quite satisfied.

The reason its tier was rare was naturally because he had taken out another small fraction of the mana embers he harvested from the magical armor to elevate its quality.

Currently, only about 80 grams of mana embers remained.

The alchemy shop had stocked a new batch of items, and after walking around, Qin Yuan didn't find anything that interested him.

Buying two more oblivion potions, he left a good review on the ice-cold mirror surface and turned to leave.