Chapter 632: Mission for Unfreezing
After solving the manticore, Chen Rui left the Mighty Poison Land with his newly acquired follower, Lucio.
With the manticore egg in hand, Lucio’s original plan was to skip the mercenary union and go directly to Pastor Mana. However, even if they could approach Mana, people with “unknown origins” like Chen Rui still needed an ident.i.ty certificate like a mercenary badge. Otherwise, he would also encounter trouble in the follow-up plan.
Chen Rui’s plan was to get the badge first. Pastor Mana offered reward for only 1 manticore egg, but this time he got 3. It was completely possible to complete the black crystal mission and reactivate Lucio’s team authority. Although this would cause a certain sensation, with his current strength, he didn’t care about these at all as long as he could save time and not affect the implementation of the plan.
Now both of them were a little hungry. Chen Rui gave Lucio some food from the storage s.p.a.ce. Although Lucio was curious about the fresh and delicious food that appeared out of thin air, he didn’t dare to ask more. The 2 were eating while walking. About 3 hours later, when they were going downhill, Chen Rui suddenly spoke up, “Wait.”
Lucio stopped quickly. Chen Rui looked at the hill on the left, “There is a voice over there that seems to be calling for help.”
“Master, uh… leader,” Lucio changed his address in time and looked at the direction of the hill, “That place is the iron grenade bee site. The queen bee crystal of the iron grenade bee is not only delicious, but it also speeds up magic power recovery. It is very valuable. However, iron grenade bees are demonic beasts that live in groups. They are very aggressive and their poison is especially special. It does not kill people immediately, but the pain caused is very terrifying. People who are attacked by iron grenade bees often will not be poisoned to death, but they will die in pain.”
Speaking of this, Lucio could not help but shudder. He suddenly seemed to think of something, “The union has a long-term mission of collecting honey which is a free mission that can be accepted directly. This mission is of purple crystal level 3, but it has been monopolized by the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad previously. Could it be…”
Chen Rui’s eyes flashed, “Let’s go and have a look.”
Lucio led Chen Rui to a forest under the hill on the left. From a distance, they saw 2 people lying on the ground howling in pain mixed with the indistinct cries of “help”. In front of the forest, a small cloud-like swarm of bees was slowly receding away.
Chen Rui and Lucio approached them. The 2 men on the ground were covered with protective gauze, but the gauze could not completely resist the frantic attack of the iron grenade bees. Red and swollen marks of the size of a jujube kernel could be clearly seen all over the body under the gauze. It was astounding.
The bee venom was strong and abnormal. The 2 of them wailed tragically and couldn’t move their bodies. Their muscles were twitching uncontrollably. Judging from the distorted expression, it seemed that they were enduring extremely throbbing pain.
“Leader, be careful! The bee venom of iron grenade bees is contagious. You must use dragon beard gra.s.s and fennel wattle to dissolve it.” Lucio reminded, “Leave it to me. I have some dragon beard gra.s.s but no fennel wattle. It should ease the trigger duration.”
Chen Rui was not afraid of any poison at all. Seeing Lucio taking the initiative, he nodded and threw him a pair of leather gloves. He added another sentence, “With these gloves, your hands are basically immune to all poisons. By the way, it also has an attribute that increases attack speed by 35%.”
Lucio surprisingly looked at the pair of brown gloves which also faintly s.h.i.+ned with crystal light. Although he didn’t know the specific grade, they were extraordinary products judging from the delicate and seamless materials as well as near-perfect weaving skills.
After putting on the gloves, the gloves automatically shrink to the most suitable size. The touch felt like his own skin without the slightest feeling of being hindered.
The most surprising thing was Chen Rui’s words. Immune to “all” poisons? And it can increase attack speed by 35%!
What… What kind of equipment is this?
“Thank you leader, I’ll return it to you later.” Lucio understood the value of these gloves and held them carefully for fear of spoiling it.
Lucio’s behavior amused Chen Rui, “No need to return it, it’s just a quasi-legendary armor. From now on, it’s yours.”
Quasi-legendary grade! Moreover, it belongs to me! Lucio’s eyes widened, then he showed an expression of ecstasy, “Thank you, leader!”
The main material of this pair of gloves was Jacob’s scales. Chen Rui still had a lot of them. Moreover, a pair of quasi-legendary grade gloves was really nothing to Boss Chen and Master Chen, whose property and potential a.s.sets could no longer be estimated. However, for the spearman who had been in the lower level all year round, he couldn’t even afford an excellent grade equipment, let alone a quasi-legendary grade one.
Lucio knelt down, opened the gauze with his gloves, and searched the 2 men. They could not move due to the bee venom and could only scream. They couldn’t even hear what Chen Rui and Lucio said just now, let alone resisting.
“It turns out that these 2 people only have fennel wattle and they ran out of dragon beard gra.s.s.. The collection this time must have alerted the queen bee, so they ended up in such a tragic situation. Huh… what is this?” Lucio found a crystal bottle from the waist pocket of a man. He opened and smelled it, revealing a surprise expression, “The iron grenade bee’s queen bee crystal! It seems that the portion for half a month is here. Although it is a little less, it should not be a problem to get the purple crystal level 1 evaluation. We can just use it to complete the activation mission!”
Things are going really well. Chen Rui refreshed. Is the luck of the miserable spearman actually s.h.i.+fting? Could it be because of the protagonist’s halo infection?
“These 2 people are also considered a great help. Let’s save them.”
Lucio quickly took out his dragon beard gra.s.s to mix with the fennel wattle from the 2 men. He grinded them and fed the herb to them. The antidote herb formula really worked. The twitching on the 2 men’s bodies gradually subsided. The pain was obviously fading.
“Hey, I saved the lives of both of you. In return, the queen bee crystal is mine!” Lucio tossed the crystal bottle in his hand and stood up.
“Wait a minute…” A man who was barely regaining his sanity said weakly, “You can’t take the queen bee crystal away. We are from the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad!”
In the past, Lucio would definitely be afraid, and he would even choose an extreme method of killing them, but now there was a “Saint powerhouse” behind him, so naturally, he would not be afraid of the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad. He said disdainfully, “So what if it’s the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad? Don’t forget that if it weren’t for me to save you, you would be dead! And I can still get the queen bee crystal!”
After finis.h.i.+ng speaking, Lucio stopped paying attention to the 2 of them. He stood up, turned around and left. Due to the effect of the venom, they were still unable to move for a short time, so they had to watch Lucio and Chen Rui walk away.
“d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d! They actually took advantage of the situation to rob us. The queen bee crystal is s.n.a.t.c.hed away now. A month of hard work is gone. The team leader will definitely punish us. Josen, what should we do?”
“When I was chased by the bee swarm, I had already released the magic message for help. The people in the squad will arrive in a few hours at the earliest.” Josen gritted his teeth, “Also, I seem to recognize this person. It’s the Burning Spear’s trash. How dare he s.n.a.t.c.hed from us, the Holy Feather Mercenary Squad! When our venom is completely dispelled, we must not let him go!”
Lucio and Chen Rui didn’t stop all the way. After returning to the town, they immediately came to the mercenary union.
“Queen bee crystal?” Sandy looked at the crystal bottle that Lucio had handed over. She carefully confirmed again and again. She finally revealed an expression of surprise, “It’s really a queen bee crystal of the iron grenade bee!”
“Ms. Sandy. This is a free mission and does not limit the partic.i.p.ant. Although the weight of these queen bee crystals is a little insufficient, there should be a level 1 purple crystal rating right? Is it possible to unfreeze my mercenary team?”
Sandy did not ask how these queen bee crystals were obtained in accordance to the professional standards. She nodded, “Yes, this kind of purity and weight can be rated for the level 2 purple crystal. According to the union regulations, the Burning Spear Squad is unfrozen and regains its normal authority. Here is the reward of 10 black crystal coins, please accept it.”
Lucio took the money bag and put it in his arms under Chen Rui’s sign, then he said, “Then my squad member should be able to become a formal mercenary, right?”
“Of course.” Sandy took out the form that Chen Rui had previously registered, “Richard, please sign your name here and press a handprint. This handprint will be imprinted on your mercenary badge.”
Chen Rui complied with all of them. Soon, “Richard” became a formal mercenary which was equivalent to possessing a legal ident.i.ty that could pa.s.s through all empires.
The mercenary who witnessed this scene began to whisper, “That’s strange, how does this thrash spear get the queen bee crystal of the iron grenade bee?”
“The trash just went out just now. What actually happened?”
“No. Hasn’t it always been the people of Holy Feather Mercenary Squad who monopolized this mission?”
“Did Lucio s.n.a.t.c.h from the people of Holy Feather Mercenary Squad? Is he courting death? He dares to grab the food from Dazwin’s bowl?”
“Impossible. He didn’t even have the ability previously, let alone now…” After Lucio led Chen Rui to leave the mercenary union, he immediately went to the Holy Church in town to look for Pastor Mana.
Although Pastor Mana was just a small leader of a church, it was not so easy to meet him. Lucio claimed that he must meet Pastor Mana in person for confidential matters and paid 10 black crystal coins before they could meet the meditating Sir Pastor in the prayer room.
However, judging by the nuns who hurriedly left at the door just now, Sir Pastor’s seemed to find an a.s.sistant to help with his ‘meditation’.
Pastor Mana was a short and fat middle-aged man with a bald head, triangular eyes, and a mustache. At first glance, he looked like a villain. How did he get into the ‘light’ church?
The fat pastor’s eyes had a fierce look as if he was annoyed by the interruption of some good matter, “I know you, Lucio, the son of Tenival. For the sake of that old friend, I stopped the most important meditation to meet with you. If your so-called ‘confidential matter’ does not satisfy me, even if you are the only bloodline left by Tenival, I will give you a severe punishment in accordance with the law of fairness and justice of the church!”
Lucio glanced at Chen Rui, and he showed great confidence, “Don’t worry, my answer will definitely satisfy sir. In fact, you will be very satisfied.”
TL: Signs of following a good boss: getting good stuffs and having an unreal amount of confidence?. This pastor seems to be easy to bribe, hmm…