19 Chapter 19: Choices

The sky above Demon Wolf Valley turned grey and there was a cluster of dark clouds that were gleaming with thunder. About thousands of meters above the Demon Wolf King, the sky became even darker, and the lightning that came from it became denser and denser as the demon energy that was coming from it became stronger.

"Crack~"

A bolt of lightning as thick as an arm struck onto the Demon Wolf King's body.

"AWoooooooo!" (The sound of a wolf's cry)

After being hit by the lightning, the Demon Wolf King let out a painful howl. As its back was entirely burnt by lightning, there was a smell of burnt fur all over the place.

Then, the second lightning bolt struck. This time, the Demon Wolf King who was mentally prepared let out a howl out of rage. It swung its front paw in the air, forming a black, wind blade formation which collided with the lightning.

"Hong~"

As the both collided, it let out a loud noise and sparks shot in all directions. The sparks from the lightning flickered and hit most of the demon wolves that were crawling on the ground, directly killing them!

"Uh…. This place doesn't look safe."

When one of the sparks landed right in front of him, Jiang Ming was stunned. He muttered to himself before walking away.

After withstanding both the lightning strikes, the lightning stopped and did not continue hitting the Demon Wolf King. However, the dark clouds above it were not gone and there were still bright lights that intertwined amongst the clouds. The initial blue and white lightning became purple in colour and it looked like the purple lightning was trying to accumulate its energy for one last hit.

When the Demon Wolf King noticed the scene, it couldn't help but tremble with a hint of desperation in its eyes.

"Misty River, looks like the last strike is taking a lot of time to accumulate enough energy, which means that it would be a very powerful one. I wouldn't be able to resist it. Would you be able to help me?"

Jiang Ming had actually turned on the recording function and was looking at the thunder clouds above him. Suddenly, the voice of the Demon Wolf King appeared in his head. He was stunned for a moment as he stared at the Demon Wolf King.

"What? I'm so weak and you want me to help you?" Jiang Ming let out a helpless laugh.

"You only have to help me resist a small part of the tribulation. I'm sure you'll figure something out," The Demon Wolf King replied.

"Well, I guess I can try, but if I forcefully try to resist the lightning, I might end up dead. Even if I don't, I would lose a lot of EXP. Am I gonna get something in return for risking it?" Jiang Ming quickly thought about it before replying to the Demon Wolf King.

When the Demon Wolf King heard what Jiang Ming said, it paused for a moment and then replied, "If you help me get past the Purple Lightning Tribulation, I promise to unconditionally do three things for you!"

"Deal!"

Jiang Ming laughed as he nodded his head. He didn't continue bargaining with the Demon Wolf King as he knew that he shouldn't go too far with it. Since he already managed to get a deal from the Demon Wolf King, it was time for him to stop, otherwise, it might backfire.

As both of them agreed with the terms, the Demon Wolf King descended and Jiang Ming climbed onto its back. Then, he looked upwards at the thunder clouds and was prepared for the arrival of the Purple Cloud Thunder Tribulation.

After looking at the sky for about five minutes, Jiang Ming's neck started hurting. He got the Demon Wolf King to pay attention to it while he reached for his inventory and took out the Reaper's customised mission scroll.

Jiang Ming didn't use the scroll when Chikage handed it to him before this. Therefore, he didn't know what the mission was about. Since he was free now, Jiang Ming decided to take a look at what the Reaper's mission was.

Then, he crushed the scroll in his hand.

Ding~ System notification: The Customised Reaper's mission has been successfully accepted. You have received a level 0 exclusive Reaper's Scythe.

After accepting the mission, he took a look at the mission column.

Customised Reaper's mission: Hidden profession mission 

Difficulty: Abyssal

Mission 1: Raise the Reaper's Scythe to level 10.

Mission 2: Achieve 1000 guilt value.

Mission 3: Head towards the Death Forest in XuanWu City and look for the Death Bell Tower that is located at the Demon Cliff. Obtain the Customised Reaper's Scroll.

(Reaper's Scythe) : Wood equipment

Attributes: Strength +2, attack +10

5% chance of getting critical hit damage, 5% of rupture effect appearing. Each attack will drain 5% of the player's HP and for players with rank lower than level 5, there is a 0.1% chance of lethal effect…???

Gain 20% EXP if you manage to kill a player.

Equipment can be upgraded: If a player is killed, gain 1 point of soul. In order to upgrade to level 1, 10 points of soul are required. For level 2, 20 points; level 3, 30 points required and level 4, 40 points required…..

Equipment's level: Level 0

Equipment's profession: Exclusive for the Reaper. Cannot be stolen, dropped, lost or damaged.

As Jiang Ming looked through the mission's introduction and the attributes of the Reaper's Scythe, he was stunned.

The missions were connected and each mission was extremely difficult.

The first mission requires him to raise the Reaper's Scythe to level 10 which also means that he would have to kill over 500 players with the scythe.

550 players! His heart already started pacing as he thought about the scene of killing 550 players. How cruel and merciless did he have to be in order to kill so many players?!

The second mission was even worse: achieve 1000 guilt value. If you killed one player, you would get 1 guilt value. In other words, he would have to kill 1000 players to complete the mission. Since it didn't mention that both the missions could not be combined, it meant that he could do both the missions together. Even if combined, he would still have to kill at least 1000 players just to complete the missions.

In the game, when the guilt value reaches a certain level, every 10 values will increase the inventory explosion rate by 30%. Reaching 100 guilt values would mean that everything in his inventory would explode if he was killed.

He would definitely have lots of enemies after completing both the missions. If he got killed along the way, he would lose everything in his inventory.

As for the third mission, although it just said that he has to obtain a scroll, since it was the last one in the ordeal, it must be the most difficult as well.

As he carefully thought about it, his body started trembling. He started being indecisive as to whether he should accept it or not.

Once the Reaper's Scythe consumed enough souls, it could be upgraded to a divine equipment or even higher. Plus, since the Reaper was a hidden profession, it meant that its skills would be very unique. If he succeeded in being the Reaper, he would definitely be ahead of all the other players. Of course, the price to it would be that all the players would treat him as the enemy, and he would not be able to enter into any villages or towns of the sacred camps.

If he gave up on the hidden profession, his strength maybe a little better than the rest but it wouldn't be as much as being the Reaper. Plus, he would not be able to gain much EXP due to Possession by Jinx. His EXP was halved in every one of his kills. If he became the Reaper, killing players would double his EXP instead.

"Because of the Possession by Jinx, I can't join any teams, add friends or even join any clans …. And all my EXP is halved as well. I joined the game because of interest and also because I wanted to earn some money. If I become the Reaper, my power would drastically increase, which means that I'll earn more than a normal profession….."

Jiang Ming kept thinking about it, and his palms were constantly closing and opening, showing how indecisive he was.

"Why did you decide to play the game?" It was as if Chikage could read his mind.

"Freedom! Money! Revenge!" Jiang Ming said without any hesitation.

Chikage licked its paw and said, "If that's the reason, then why are you being so indecisive? You have to remember that this is just a game, it's not the real world."

"I get it now!"

Jiang Ming nodded his head and took out the Reaper's Scythe from his inventory. As he looked at the scythe that was exuding a burst of hostility that was more intense than his, Jiang Ming tightened his grip around it.