Scourge Messenger

Chapter 370 Magical Weapon
"Is it possible that she stored the Crystal Dream Pearl somewhere else?"

"It can't be ruled out, but the chances are slim. We arrived at noon. If it were evening or when she was taking a bath, she might take it out... But I tend to think that Ying Le always carries it with her, so there's no oversight that could be exploited."

“This timing and target are absolutely terrible.” The pharmacist frowned. “It’s practically forcing us to confront Ying Le directly.”

"Exactly!" Shang Xinlei complained, arms crossed. "The difficulty of the mission has increased too quickly. Ying Le is not An Guo Temple. We can just storm into An Guo Temple in broad daylight and rob it. Does the Thieves' Family think we can break into the palace and rob Ying Le in broad daylight?"

Yan Qing dared not speak, because he was the one who set the difficulty curve for the Thieves' House.

In his plan, aside from the first mission being a warm-up and practice run, the subsequent missions should be much more challenging. After all, his target player group is Foundation Establishment Messengers, so the mission difficulty naturally needs to match the Foundation Establishment level. Even if everyone starts as a mortal messenger, after two or three missions, with almost a month's interval in between, they should all have reached Foundation Establishment by now, no matter how slowly they progress.
Before he transmigrated, this idea was perfectly reasonable, but in this world, his thinking is as absurd as 'no matter how poor a person is, they should be able to live in a large apartment overlooking the Huangpu River and own a Mercedes.'

Yaoshiyuan, Shangxinlei, and Yingrushi are all noble ladies from aristocratic families who started training and changing jobs as soon as their bodies were fully developed. But even someone as fast as Yaoshiyuan had to change jobs three times in ten years—the game "The Messenger" hasn't even been running for ten years yet.

The fourth task leaves no room for shortcuts; it's practically a veiled urging from the Thieves' House: "Are you playing so slowly because you don't like this game? You'll like it once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, so hurry up and get to it!"

But Foundation Establishment isn't without its downsides. When you go to school and see a bunch of ordinary mortals around you, as the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in your class, you'll often have a melancholy that your peers can't understand... So what are you waiting for? Let's establish our foundations together and crush Ying Le!

"The good news is that, apart from [Pillow of the Mortal World], Ying Le's Dao Foundation Divine Power [The Heart of All People] is not good at killing, but rather at the path of command and support," Ying said. "Her strength lies not in herself, but in her hundred protectors."

"But it's just that she's 'not good' at killing." Yan Qing reminded him, "Back then, when my... my clone went to attack Ying Le, she used [Heart of the Masses] to intimidate and control him. Against mortals below the Foundation Establishment stage, her [Heart of the Masses] is probably equivalent to a control technique like [Dragon Locking Well].

“Besides the [Heart of the Masses] and [Pillow of the Mortal World], Ying Le’s tokens should not be overlooked.” Ying said, “Although I have never seen her use her tokens in all these years, with ten years of Foundation Establishment and the Divine Martial Legacy, it is impossible for Ying Le not to have a fourth-level token for protection.”

"Why do you always bring up a bunch of bad news when you're telling good news..." Shang Xinlei muttered.

"What does the reward, the magic artifact 'Glassy Bead,' mean?" the Pharmacist asked. "I've only heard of magic treasures, never magic artifacts... Could it be that it erases the divine consciousness left by the Divine Martial Emperor in the Glazed Dream Bead, allowing us to use the magic artifact of the Sixth-Rank Great True Person from back then?"

“Not entirely.” Yan Qing could explain this: “Magic artifacts and magic treasures are worlds apart, despite the difference of just one word. Magic treasures are treasures for internal cultivation that are connected to the foundation of one’s Dao. As the messenger’s cultivation increases, the magic treasure will also increase in value, and it can also enhance all the supernatural powers that the messenger has mastered, not just the supernatural powers of the foundation of one’s Dao. But magic artifacts are tools of external paths, and they are whatever they are when you get them.”

"But magical artifacts have one unique characteristic: they can reproduce supernatural powers!"

Shang Xinlei's eyes widened: "So, whoever gets the Glazed Bead can activate the Divine Martial Emperor's divine power inside?"

"There should still be some restrictions, for example, they have to be Foundation Establishment Messengers at least." Yan Qing wasn't very sure either.

Yan Qing's limited understanding of magical artifacts stemmed from the fact that before his transmigration, it was merely an internal idea within the game's development team. However, Yan Qing felt it was a suitable reward for the Thieves' Guild and included it. After all, once players reached the Foundation Establishment stage, the Thieves' Guild couldn't continue rewarding legendary tokens. If players could obtain endgame gear that other players had to fight through extreme dungeons, they could get it by stealing. The result wouldn't be players scrambling to join the Thieves' Guild; instead, they would simply delete the game.

We can tolerate dedicated bottom-tier players, since everyone can fix things; but it's outrageous that only a small group of people get lucky encounters. We're here to play a game, not to be supporting characters in an online game novel. If you're going to create lucky encounters now, is the next step to unlocking hidden classes so the protagonist can kill us like dogs?

Magical artifacts are far less important than legendary tokens, but they offer a highly engaging alternative to other rewards. As Yan Qing said, they inherently possess supernatural effects, similar to Yan Qing's [Epitaph], which sounds quite powerful, but in the internal test server, they have almost no impact on balance.

The power of Foundation Establishment lies in the power of Build, the chain reaction unleashed by combining divine abilities with suitable tokens. Take the [Epitaph] as an example: without a ranged attack token, Yan Qing can only use it on himself and his allies, making it just an ordinary life-saving divine ability. However, if paired with a long-range attack token, he can etherealize enemies or rescue teammates from a great distance. Although it's icing on the cake, it's also the finishing touch.

Magical artifacts cannot be combined with tokens, severely limiting their functionality. However, players have always only had three supernatural powers, and those like Yan Qing who can obtain additional supernatural powers are extremely rare. Now that they can obtain magical artifacts with supernatural powers, they will definitely flock to them, as it is at least equivalent to a skill of the Foundation Establishment level.

No one was too surprised that Yan Qing had extra information: the Treasure Hunt Order, the Calamity Organization, the Wildwood Forest, and the Demon Gathering Land, not to mention Yan Qing's loyal and brilliant alt accounts... This guy is just like his face; after taking off the mask, there are bandages underneath, and mystery remains mystery.

“I will send someone to scout out Nightless City.” “No need,” Ying Rushi immediately said, “I’m not far from Nightless City right now, so it’s much simpler and more effective for me to scout it out than for you… Don’t worry, I will avoid Ying Le.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you.” Yan Qing thought for a moment. “You don’t need to worry too much about this mission. I have mastered supernatural powers now, and I already have a legendary Foundation Establishment Pill.”

The pharmacist and Shang Xinlei exchanged a glance. Shang Xinlei asked, "You said you wanted to eat boiled eggs?"

"It's a legendary Foundation Establishment Pill, with a 100% success rate for Foundation Establishment. As long as you take it, you will definitely establish your foundation," Yan Qing said calmly.

"Give it to me." Shang Xinlei reached out her hand very naturally.

"Give you my ass." Pharmacist Yuan slapped Shang Xinlei on the head in a flash. Shang Xinlei shrank back, pouting, not daring to retaliate. These twenty days of training not only instilled Shang Xinlei's fighting habits but also instilled in her awe of Pharmacist Yuan. During training, Pharmacist Yuan was truly ruthless, his brow furrowed as he sternly scolded her, reminding Shang Xinlei of the long-lost feeling of being slapped on the hand by her teacher when she was a child.

Shang Xinlei had thought that it was good enough, since her fighting style wasn't close combat and much of the training might not be useful. However, the pharmacist frowned and stared at her, without scolding her, but calmly said, "This is training that can save lives. You can never lose money by learning more."

So Shang Xinlei could only continue to suffer the beatings, to the point that now, when Yaoshi Yuan frowned, her legs would tremble slightly.

Haha, just kidding.

Yan Qing also trembled.

"To take the Foundation Establishment Pill, you need to complete the third stage of cultivation. Have you completed that stage before you want it?"

The pharmacist looked at Yan Qing and said, "There are still five days before the mission begins. If you can reach perfection within five days, I can help you purchase the Qi Kingdom's Secret Techniques Mastery Book."

The simplest way for a third-tier messenger to reach perfection is to learn a large number of secret techniques. Mastering and becoming proficient in about five secret techniques will allow him to reach level 39, the Great Perfection. However, this kind of perfection is the most opportunistic way to level up. If it were a different profession, it would be fine, but Yan Qing is a "Martial Extreme Messenger". His way of leveling up is simply a waste of the last period of accumulation before Foundation Establishment.

"No need, I already have a general idea," Yan Qing said. "That's about it for today, let's call it a day."

"Disband what? Don't we need to eat?" Shang Xinlei rolled her eyes at him: "Today is the joyous day that White Fox has joined our family!"

"Ah!?" Ying Ru Shi froze instantly, stammering, "You...you're willing to accept me?"

“Actually, it was only a matter of time before you joined.” Shang Xinlei shrugged. “After all, we’re all members of the Thieves’ Family, seeing each other all the time, and that bastard has that kind of personality… He often talks about you in private, how could he possibly let you go?”

"Let's get along well," Yakushi En also smiled.

Ying Rushi's eyes welled up with tears, and she wiped her eyes with her palm, saying, "Thank you. I thought you would definitely think I stole from you—"

"It doesn't have to come down to theft, does it?" Shang Xinlei tilted her head. "Since that scoundrel invited you to join the Disaster Organization, it means there are vacant seats in the organization. Anyway, if it's not for you, it will be for someone else. The Disaster Organization doesn't belong to us exclusively."

“…Ah.” Ying Ru blinked and glanced quickly at Yan Qing: “That’s true…You guys are so nice.”

(End of this chapter)