Chapter 49: The Rainbow Dragon-Hunting Mercenary Corps (Volume End)

Returning to his exclusive personal room, Murong Xun wore an extremely grim expression.

He had searched the surrounding area thoroughly but found no trace of Li Wenna. In his heart, he was certain that she had most likely obtained the player qualifications of Wang Qing and the other person, thereby entering the Demon Tower Paradise.

Anxiety gnawed at him, yet there was nothing he could do at the moment. Feeling utterly distressed and distracted, he hurriedly chose to return to the Paradise ahead of schedule.

Now, his only hope was that Li Wenna had inherited Wang Qing's player identity. If so, she would inherit Wang Qing's possessions—whether equipment or anything else—which would greatly increase her chances of survival.

What if she had obtained Gongsun Yuan's qualifications instead?

He looked down at the blood-stained badge in his hand, feeling a pang of regret for the very first time.

Yet he also understood that even if he had not killed Gongsun Yuan, had Li Wenna been nearby at that moment, she would have ended up acquiring Wang Qing's qualifications anyway, and thus would still have been unable to escape the destiny of entering the Demon Tower.

Because it was his first time entering the Demon Tower, he lacked the ability to track Li Wenna's whereabouts.

As soon as he returned to the Demon Tower, he began inquiring if there was any way to locate her. While numerous methods existed, none proved effective.

Since Li Wenna had entered directly into an inheritance instance dungeon, her trial had commenced the moment she stepped inside, leaving him no way to force his way midway. All he could do now was wait for her to emerge from the inheritance instance on her own.

Realizing this, Murong Xun let out a defeated sigh. It seemed there truly was no other way.

Meanwhile, his remaining stay time was ticking down.

Although he had returned early, because his allowed stay time within the Demon Tower had already been exhausted, his return had immediately triggered the commencement of his next mission, leaving him with only one final hour of lingering time.

Without hesitation, he activated Gongsun Yuan's blood-stained badge.

[You have obtained 9,861 Paradise Coins from Tier 3 Player ID XX12!]

[Real-world elimination equates to a War World elimination. You have five draw chances!]

[You have drawn: Miscellaneous Item - Cigar x1 box!]

[You have drawn: Miscellaneous Item - Women's Underwear x1!]

[You have drawn: Purple Extreme Heart Scripture x1!]

[You have drawn: Savage Bull Belt!]

[You have drawn: Miscellaneous Item - Expired Chocolate x1 box!]

A Tier 3 player?

Murong Xun's pupils constricted sharply. A Tier 3 player, of all things!

Yet the Paradise Coins amounted to just over nine thousand, which felt rather meager considering a complete inheritance.

For a dignified Tier 3 player to carry such a paltry sum was truly pathetic.

What he did not know was that Gongsun Yuan had exhausted most of his Paradise Coins during their battle; besides, who would leave massive amounts of Paradise Coins idle? Everyone used them immediately to strengthen themselves.

[Purple Extreme Heart Scripture (Passive): 0/30. A peculiar cultivation technique!]

[Type: Cultivation Technique]

[Grade: Purple Rare]

[Effect: +10 burn effect per tier.]

To his surprise, it was a passive cultivation technique that increased burn damage.

After examining the technique, Murong Xun chose to learn it immediately. It fit right into his current lack of such passive abilities. Once mastered, it would directly imbue his attacks with burn damage without requiring any special triggers or relying on luck-based activation probabilities.

[Savage Bull Belt: Owning it might make you mistaken for the most dazzling boy admired by thousands of savage bull maidens!]

[Quality: Blue Excellent]

[Attributes: Health +150]

[Skill: Savage Bull Charge. Allows the user to charge at a target within a straight line up to a maximum distance of fifty meters. Consumes 5 energy, with a cooldown of 20 seconds!]

It was merely a piece of blue equipment, but being a belt—and more importantly, coming with an inherent skill that compensated for Murong Xun's shortcomings—he equipped it right away.

Though incomparable to Aurora Flash, this skill could be used in tandem with it.

Having finished these tasks, Murong Xun opened the auction house directly. He had already made up his mind beforehand to purchase a class advancement scroll right then and there to complete his advancement.

After all, he had heard that the promotion trials were exceptionally difficult, and achieving high ratings during them yielded better rewards. Advancing now would allow him to adapt over the next two worlds, ensuring his strength reached a higher level by the time the promotion trial arrived.

Normally, people triggered advancement quests within instance dungeons, but Murong Xun did not want to leave things to chance; he preferred to buy the advancement scroll outright. Though expensive, it would enable him to advance much sooner.

...

"Oh my, why is there someone still wearing pajamas?"

"The quality of this batch of newbies is just too poor!"

Amidst the timid and fearful expressions of the newcomers, Tian Weiwei patiently began to explain the situation to them.

As a new member of the Dragon Hunting Troupe and serving in a supporting role, she rarely secured major rewards on her own. Consequently, the troupe members habitually defaulted to assigning her the task of guiding newcomers, granting her a slightly higher share of rewards.

"This batch of newcomers is indeed quite a sight!"

Clad in fiery red tight martial attire with two crossed broadswords strapped to his back, Chiqi possessed a towering physique. Standing before the novice players like an iron tower, he exuded an oppressive, overwhelming presence.

"Forget it, Weiwei, let them bring that girl along. At least there's a fifty percent full-survival reward; missing out on that would be too painful."

Nearby, Ziju, dressed in similar attire save for a black color scheme, chimed in.

When guiding newcomers, if none of them perished, an extra bonus would be awarded.

Since the two prominent figures of the troupe had spoken, the others raised no objections.

Naturally, with Chiqi and Ziju—the core pillars of the troupe—having no complaints, nobody else dared to voice dissent.

"Thank you, Big Brother Chiqi! Thank you, Big Brother Ziju!"

Tian Weiwei quickly expressed her gratitude.

She knew very well that her voice carried little weight; had the others in the troupe disagreed, the girl in pajamas would essentially have been doomed.

Now that they were willing to protect her, barring any extreme crises, they would try their best to keep her safe. While not one hundred percent secure, it was at least vastly better.

"This girl doesn't seem to be merely weak in constitution and failing to wake up; she likely suffered trauma in the real world, which caused this state of unconsciousness."

Chiqi frowned and, after checking her status, drew such a conclusion.

Aside from the two core members Chiqi and Ziju, and the support role Tian Weiwei, the Rainbow Dragon Hunting Troupe had dispatched two other members for this expedition.

The newcomers assigned to them numbered over a dozen.

"Everyone, do not worry. Stay close to us, and we will do our best to protect your safety. Running around blindly will easily lead to death!"

Seeing the anxious and terrified expressions of the crowd, Tian Weiwei hurriedly offered comfort.

She understood all too well the paralyzing fear newcomers experienced when encountering such a situation for the first time.

Soothed by Tian Weiwei's reassurances, the newcomers finally calmed down.

Shortly after, a robust young man hoisted the sleeping Li Wenna onto his back, and the group set off.

The Rainbow Dragon Hunting Troupe specialized exclusively in hunting dragon-type creatures.

The majority of dragon-related materials appearing in the material market were supplied by them.

Whether it was dragon blood, dragon meat, dragon scales, dragon horns, dragon tendons, or dragon claws—used for consumption, potion crafting, or equipment forging—everything could be purchased through them.

The mere ability to hunt dragon-type creatures was a testament to their formidable strength.

Their arrival in this world naturally indicated that this was a realm inhabited by dragons.

However, this time, they had not used items to forcibly breach this world; rather, this happened to be Tian Weiwei's personal mission world. Upon discovering records of dragon-type creatures here, they had simply chosen to party up with her and enter together, saving a valuable entry item while also allowing them to tackle the main storyline quests.

Entering other instance dungeons via items meant forfeiting main storyline quests and severely reducing the chances of triggering side quests.

Much like the Myth Squad, both factions had their own distinct goals; previously, the Myth Squad had experienced some unpleasant friction with the Dragon Hunting Troupe over materials required for dragon blood potions.

[Dragons ravage the land, and the minions of the dragon race spread across the world. Hunt a true dragon to prove your martial prowess!]

[Main Quest: Slay a true dragon. Rewards increase for every additional dragon killed!]

[Optional Quest: Dragon Slayer! Kill a sufficient number of dragons to earn the title: Dragon Slayer.]

This was the quest meant for veteran players, while the newcomers' objective was simple: survive.

As long as they stayed alive, they would pass the novice trial.

"A world of the dragon race?"

Chiqi frowned.

The dragon race was a supreme lineage; even the weakest dragons were formidable. Furthermore, the prompt mentioned that dragons were ravaging the land, implying a massive population. This place seemed practically tailor-made for their Dragon Hunting Troupe.

Yet, how could such a high-difficulty realm possibly serve as the world for so many newcomers?

The difficulty was far too high; it was the kind of environment normally reserved for seasoned veterans like themselves.

Chiqi had no inkling that this was entirely due to the presence of a "newcomer" who was not truly a beginner.

A newcomer equipped with Tier 3 clearance privileges had single-handedly inflated the difficulty of their world. Otherwise, short of the entire Rainbow Dragon Hunting Troupe mobilizing en masse, they would never have encountered a mission of such high difficulty—let alone while escorting a dozen actual novices.

Meanwhile, Li Wenna remained soundly asleep, entirely oblivious to the events unfolding around her.

"Let's head out and scout first!"

Ziju spoke up.

"Since we're hunting dragons, that's our specialty!"

Facing other creatures might pose some difficulties, but when it came to dragons, they could confidently declare this territory their home turf.

Just as the Myth Squad possessed pseudo-artifacts specifically designed to counter deities, the Dragon Hunting Troupe possessed adventurer group skills custom-tailored to suppress the dragon race. It was precisely for this reason that they had chosen to walk the path of specialized dragon hunters.

The results had been immensely gratifying. From a humble, small-scale adventurer troupe, they had grown step by step into a wealthy behemoth spanning multiple tiers, holding a resounding reputation deep within the Demon Tower.

Entering a world dedicated to the dragon race while armed with anti-dragon specialized skills made them feel like fish returning to water.