After a short while, Zachary shook his head helplessly and said, "All right. I will finish ten collection quests. But Master Anne, please don't break your promise after I've accomplished the quests." And with that, he stepped out of the Living-dead Tomb to carry out the first collection quest of collecting the Heavenly Aromatic Herbs.
An hour of searching later, Zachary returned to the tomb and gave Anne ten Heavenly Aromatic Herbs.
"You have completed a collection quest, and you will receive a random treasure reward..." Mimi's voice echoed in his ears the moment Zachary handed the herbs to Anne.
"Congratulations! You will receive a first-grade Heavenly Aromatic Herb!" As Mimi was speaking, a flash of light shone in front of Zachary's eyes and a fresh herb appeared in front of him.
"It turns out I can get a reward after completing a collection quest! And it is an herb reward!" Zachary exclaimed in surprise with raised eyebrows as he seized the herb.
"Master Anne, this is only the first quest, and there are still nine left. May I continue to complete the remaining quests?" Zachary asked with great excitement. Although Anne didn't accept him as her disciple, he could still acquire treasure rewards with every quest he accomplished. With that in mind, he was eager to finish more quests for more rewards. And if he completed ten collection quests, then he would acquire ten treasure rewards. Thus, he couldn't be more willing to continue the remaining quests.
"I'm tired. You can leave now. See you tomorrow!" Anne replied, ignoring his request.
After a moment, Zachary found himself back in the Peach Blossom Forest.
The moment he returned, Zachary heard Mimi's tender voice, "The Treasure-hunting System has a special storage space. Would you like to keep your treasures there?"
"Oh, there's even a storage space! Yes, I would like that," Zachary answered with delight. Immediately after his reply, the first-grade Heavenly Aromatic Herb in his hand disappeared. He knew that it had been stored automatically in the special storage space.
After exiting the system, Zachary went back to his treehouse. Exhausted, he collapsed on his bed and fell into a sound sleep. He needed a good rest for tomorrow's quest.
The next day, Zachary returned to the Living-dead Tomb. Anne gave him the second collection quest, which was also gathering herbs. With experience from the previous day, he completed it with ease. Once again, after delivering the herbs to Anne, he was rewarded with a first-grade herb. If Zachary kept the pace and continued this, he would get ten herbs in total after completing the ten quests, and his urgent need of the herbs would be satisfied.
The following days, Anne consecutively gave Zachary the remaining eight quests. All of them were as simple as the previous ones, which only required him to collect specific items such as herbs, food, and so on. Most of them were easily obtained.
Of course, some of them were a little difficult to find. But with the magical Shadow Pace he had grasped, he could go anywhere to search for them with no trouble. May it be on a steep mountain or pass a formation organized by formidable bronze fighters, Zachary was able to find all the items required.
"Congratulations! You have completed the tenth collection quest. Now you can receive a random reward... A second-grade Fire Spiritual Flower." As Mimi's announcement faded away, a strange flame-like flower burned in front of Zachary.
"Second grade, ha-ha... I made a killing!" Zachary exclaimed with a triumphant smile on his face. He collected his reward happily.
After finishing the ten collection quests, he felt quite relieved. He immediately looked at Anne, who was standing in front of him, and asked with eagerness in his eyes, "Master Anne, will you accept me as your disciple now?"
"Starting tomorrow, I will have to cultivate in seclusion for a while, and I'll make the decision when I finish my cultivation!" Anne quickly made an excuse to avoid his question. Zachary was rejected once again. He felt like she was fooling him.
Zachary felt both annoyed and amused. It never occurred to him that someone as pure, noble, and arrogant as Anne would be so perverse and unreasonable. Moreover, he couldn't find a way to protest since her excuse had no flaws in it.
Before he could insist, he was sent back to the Peach Blossom Forest once again.
"Huh, I just don't believe it! By whatever means, I will make you accept me as your disciple, and then your lover... Then, I can do anything I want to do." He smiled shamelessly to himself. He then stroked his chin, narrowed his eyes and pondered seriously, 'I wonder how many first-grade cultivation-aiding pills I can get by exchanging just ten herbs? I need more pills to improve my cultivation and advance three grades.'
With his hard work all these days, Zachary was now at the sixth grade of Foundation Establishment, but he still had a long way to go before reaching the ninth grade. And worse still, there was not much time left. Thus, his only hope now was to exchange his task rewards for more first-grade cultivation-aiding pills so that he could make a breakthrough.
After considering his options, Zachary took out nine of the first-grade herbs that he kept in the storage space of the system, and put them in the cloth bag he had prepared beforehand. The only thing left in the storage space was the second-grade Fire Spiritual Flower. With that done, he left the system.
Early the next morning, Zachary went to the Welkin Sect's Pill Hall to trade his herbs for pills. The moment he arrived, however, he came upon a noisy, bustling crowd.
The disciples at the Foundation Establishment who had been collecting herbs in Herbal Mountain all came here to exchange their herbs for pills. The formal disciple selection would start very soon. Just like Zachary, they all needed more pills to improve their cultivation.
By a rough calculation, Zachary assumed that more than two hundred disciples at the Foundation Establishment formed a long queue inside the hall. They were using their contribution points or the herbs they had collected in exchange for pills.
The Welkin Sect was not very good at refining pills. Hence, the pills they could provide for their disciples were only first-grade white cultivation-aiding pills, but they were still beneficial to the disciples at the Foundation Establishment.
Recently, each disciple at the Foundation Establishment from the Welkin Sect had worked tirelessly for the final improvement of their cultivation before the official selection. All their efforts were paid, of course.
Some were satisfied with their payment while others were not.
Since the number of disciples allowed to collect herbs at the Herbal Mountain was limited, those at the Foundation Establishment with good qualifications were greatly favored and had such opportunities. The remaining who had poor qualifications seldom had these chances and could only do daily tasks in exchange for one or two first-grade white cultivation-aiding pills.
To put it briefly, compared to those less qualified, those disciples who were able to collect herbs from the Herbal Mountain had gotten much more pills. Among them, those who were unlucky could get only two or three first-grade herbs. Meanwhile, those who were fortunate had a great harvest; wherein each was able to collect at least five or six first-grade herbs. One first-grade herb could exchange for a first-grade white cultivation-aiding pill. If a disciple could collect more precious second-grade herbs, he could exchange it for at least two or three of the mentioned pills. Moreover, if he had better luck and picked some more precious herbs, that would mean he could trade those herbs for more pills.
Of course, there were many official disciples of the Welkin Sect in the Pill Hall. They were here to have fun. With the overwhelming amount of people, the hall was tightly packed.
Among the crowd, a disciple at the Foundation Establishment was standing near a table as he watched a disciple of the Pill Hall count the herbs he had picked. He had a broad smile on his face.
"One first-grade Ripple Herb. Three first-grade Withered Summer Flowers. That's four herbs in total. You can get four first-grade white cultivation-aiding pills," the disciple declared loudly after he finished counting.
Many of the disciples at the Foundation Establishment in the hall overheard his fortunate trade-in, and they began to murmur to each other. They all knew that one more herb meant an added percentage to the chances of being picked in the official disciple selection. Hence, they couldn't help but be envious of him.
As soon as the disciple took the four pills and got out of the long queue with a happy mood, a figure immediately approached him.
"Impressive, man, what a good harvest! You got four first-grade white cultivation-aiding pills! I can't believe your luck," the man said dramatically.
The disciple turned his head to acknowledge the man beside him. It was none other than the "famous" Benjamin whom most disciples didn't dare to offend. The smile on the disciple's face instantly disappeared. But just as quickly, he forced himself to smile again, and he replied respectfully, "Benjamin, I should thank you for my good luck. To show my gratitude, I offer you this pill. Please take it." After he said this, a subtle, unwilling expression reflected on his face as he took out a pill and discreetly handed it to Benjamin.
"No, I shouldn't take it. After all, you've earned it. It is my humble duty to help you, junior disciples, not the other way around," Benjamin said politely, pretending to reject the pill. But in secret, he immediately took the pill with no hesitation or shame.
At that very moment, another figure strode into the Pill Hall and headed straight for Benjamin.
"Hey loser, why are you here? Are you here because you envy the other disciples and want to make a fool of yourself?" Benjamin brazenly shouted the minute he saw the figure.
The other disciples of the Welkin Sect burst into laughter. Such a scene was hilarious to them.
The disciple whom Benjamin humiliated was none other than Zachary.