"What the heck!"
Xiao Wu stopped her anxious swaying and glared at You Chen, "Ah Chen, don't scare people for no reason, okay!?"
"Scare?"
Even You Chen couldn't quite follow Xiao Wu's train of thought, a question mark appearing above his head.
He paused, then looked at Xiao Wu with exasperation, "Who knows where your silly mind wandered off to, thinking I was planning to harm you now!? And who's your Ah Chen? Call me Uncle! If you must, Uncle it is! From now on, in front of others, you'll be my niece, so remember not to slip up!"
"Ugh, I don't want to."
Xiao Wu pouted, "That makes me sound like I'm a generation younger than you!"
You Chen adjusted his glasses, "In most people's eyes, with our age difference, being a generation apart is reasonable."
Xiao Wu huffed in dissatisfaction, then her eyes sparkled with cleverness, "Right, Ah Chen, since you wear glasses, it's hard to tell your age! Just say you're my brother!"
Brother?
Hearing this title, You Chen couldn't help but twitch his lips. What, are you planning to change your sacrificial target in this life?
"I'm 35 this year, how old are you?"
"I—" Xiao Wu's eyes darted around, and after a moment, she pouted in dissatisfaction, "Six."
You Chen responded, reading with a monotone voice, "Wow, a 29-year gap. Looks like our parents really were something in their prime."
Xiao Wu's braid drooped, "Fine, Uncle it is."
"Good."
You Chen nodded, somewhat speaking with double meaning, then took a bite of the grilled fish from the barbecue.
The aroma and crisp sound made Xiao Wu's eyes widen.
You Chen's lips curled as he blew on the seemingly charred fish, saying calmly, "I told you, this is its most perfect state!"
That attitude made Xiao Wu grind her teeth in frustration.
"Alright, no more fish left; I'll eat this myself. I'll give you some candy."
"Tch, candy again? Do you really treat me like a kid?"
Despite her tough words, Xiao Wu skillfully caught the beautifully wrapped candy You Chen tossed her way.
Over the past few days, You Chen had occasionally fed her, and now a whole box of "friendly premium candy" had almost all ended up in Xiao Wu's stomach.
The night passed without further incident.
After Xiao Wu fell asleep in the tent, You Chen continued to gaze at the starry sky by the campfire outside.
So it went until the early morning hours, the time when tasks refreshed.
Ding.
Seeing the first words of the task, You Chen broke into a satisfied smile.
'Finally, Yu Xiaogang, I've been waiting for you!'
[Task: Yu Xiaogang, a theoretical scholar from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, harbors resentment for your public denial of his "Top Ten Core Competitiveness of Martial Spirits" theory and plans to use the power of Spirit Hall's Saintess Bibi Dong against you. Such reliance on authority is intolerable! How can you sit idly by in the face of such a person!? You have two ways to complete this task.
First, make those who flaunt their power taste the oppression of even greater power!
Second, after publishing truly substantial research results, renowned scholars will debate on your behalf! Crush Yu Xiaogang theoretically, proving your theories and compelling him to submit!
Completing the task using the first method grants a basic reward. Completing it using the second method grants an additional reward. Completing both methods grants the ultimate reward!]
[Basic Reward: Ten mid-level nutritional pills, mid-level soul power pill, mid-level strength pill, mid-level speed pill, mid-level soul power enhancement pill, two "Sudden Insights"]
[Additional Reward: One mid-level experience pill, soul ring age increase card (thousand-year), one "Glimpse of Essence"]
[Ultimate Reward: Adaptively Optimal Second Soul Ring, ...]
Before You Chen could finish reading the ultimate reward's description, suddenly... the last line of text twisted and blurred violently.
[Ultimate Reward: Adaptively Optimal (&*(&%￥)）]
After several seconds of text distortion, it finally settled.
[Ultimate Reward: Adaptively Optimal Soul Bone (hundred-thousand-year limit)]
"..."
You Chen was silent for a moment, then murmured to himself, 'So the previous situation was a system bug?'
Although he hadn't detected any timeline issues, the system seemed to have gotten smarter about this aspect.
Hmm... perhaps "smart" isn't the right word. Maybe the previous direct confrontation with world rules had taught the system a lesson, and it had learned from the experience?
Anyway, You Chen hadn't expected the same good fortune to occur again.
He had long prepared for the possibility of no soul ring rewards in the future.
He was more concerned about whether the path he envisioned could proceed smoothly.
The appearance of Yu Xiaogang in the task, unlike the surprise with Kendall, was anticipated and satisfied You Chen.
The level of task rewards is fundamentally linked to the system's assessment of task difficulty.
For example, although Ye Han had a Purple-Clad Bishop backing him, classmates' squabbles wouldn't draw the Bishop's intervention, so the task's inherent difficulty and hidden risks weren't high.
If it weren't a beginner task, the rewards would be quite ordinary.
If the Bishop were the type to protect his own, the task rewards would be somewhat elevated. You Chen had deduced this information from numerous previous tasks.
Conversely, while Yu Xiaogang's strength was lacking, he had Spirit Hall's Saintess Bibi Dong standing behind him at the time! His family, especially his father, also cared about him.
This resulted in Yu Xiaogang's task rating not being too low in the system.
And what about You Chen at that time?
Just a 12-year-old kid with nothing!
Based on his own deductions, You Chen guessed that the task related to Yu Xiaogang wouldn't have poor rewards.
But...
'Even so, the rewards seem a bit too high, don't they?'
You Chen shook his head, dismissing the thought of rewards slightly exceeding expectations.
This task, objectively evaluated, is indeed challenging.
The system doesn't pre-set a future to determine task difficulty.
For instance, in the future, Qian Xunji might interfere with Yu Xiaogang and Bibi Dong's relationship, fearing Yu Xiaogang would take her away.
The system wouldn't factor such favorable conditions for You Chen into the current task, thereby reducing its difficulty level and docking rewards.
With You Chen's arrival as a transmigrator, all future events have been reshuffled, and unoccurred events can't be set as absolute conditions for task difficulty.
The system only assesses the task difficulty and rewards based on the current situation, the comprehensive abilities of the task target, the overall power gap between both parties, and the task completion conditions.
So, the slightly higher rewards for this task are reasonable. Yes.
In the task rewards this time, a new term appeared, which naturally caught You Chen's attention.
"Glimpse of Essence," its description was as compelling as that of "Sudden Insight."
This was undoubtedly another "special" category reward.
Its effect, though complex, allows a soul master to deeply sense the essence of their martial spirit... In simple terms, it greatly enhances a soul master's understanding of their martial spirit, thereby improving their control over its essence.
'This is absolutely invaluable!'
It seems that signing early has somehow dropped me out of the new book recommendations, which is a bit annoying...
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