Chapter 31: The Clue Secured! Why Is She Taking the Big Shot to a Dark Room? A Risqué Mission?

Yesterday, with just over a thousand health points, he had managed to clear the second floor of the Land of Treasure, earning quite a handsome reward.

Now, his health had reached a staggering seventy thousand, and thanks to his free attribute points, his attack speed had broken through to 2.68.

How many floors deep into the Land of Treasure could he clear now? And what kind of bountiful rewards would he reap? Su Nian looked forward to the journey ahead with great anticipation. But before that...

In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of the village shop. Su Nian’s mouth twitched as he looked at the price of the mana-restoration potions.

[Prompt: Would you like to purchase 50 mana-restoration potions? Cost: 500 gold coins!]

At an average of 10 gold coins per bottle, they only restored 300 mana points over 5 seconds. Though the total recovery was modest, the price was steep! Fortunately, to Su Nian, gold coins were currently of little consequence. Mana was his only shortcoming, and if he wanted to clear as many floors as possible in the Land of Treasure this time, he had to be fully prepared for any eventuality.

"Purchase!"

[Prompt: Purchase successful!]

With 50 mana-restoration potions added to his inventory, Su Nian set his sights on the Quest Tavern. "Now, then..."

...

Before long, Su Nian arrived at the tavern entrance. When he saw the beautiful woman sitting at the front desk, his eyes lit up. This reaction wasn't due to her alluring figure or the twin peaks on her chest that seemed to defy gravity with every movement.

It was because this woman was none other than the tavern proprietress, well-known to all novice players—the one everyone secretly longed for when coming here to pick up quests. If he had found the proprietress, could the clue to the Divine Blessing be far behind?

Thinking of this, Su Nian walked straight into the tavern. Seeing him approach, the stunning proprietress flashed her signature smile. "Sir, are you looking for a quest?"

Su Nian shook his head. He had no interest in the pittance offered by standard quests. The proprietress, seeing this, was about to ask something, but before she could speak, Su Nian got straight to the point.

"I have completed the wandering merchant's quest."

This simple sentence caused a look of surprise to cross her face. "You defeated the wandering merchant?"

Hearing this, Su Nian shook his head again.

"Oh?" The proprietress frowned.

The next second, Su Nian added calmly, "Not defeated. To be more precise... I killed him."

"???"

The proprietress’s eyes widened. After a moment of astonishment, she seemed to realize something, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. "In that case, come with me."

With that, she led the way toward a storage room filled with miscellaneous items in the corner of the tavern. Su Nian followed. This scene was witnessed by a group of players who had just entered.

"Hey, look, isn't that the big shot who slaughtered the world?"

"It really is! I didn't expect to run into him right after the server-wide announcement!"

"Wait, isn't that the proprietress?"

"What is she taking him into the back room for?"

"Is the proprietress... smiling?"

"Holy crap, she even closed the door?"

"This..."

The group looked at each other. The charm and beauty of the tavern proprietress were well known to all players. Just yesterday, a wealthy player, banking on the fact that she was a novice village NPC who wouldn't attack players, had made a lewd, ill-intentioned move. As for the result... despite being in a game, the sheer, crushing pain of having his "bird eggs" smashed was so real that the player had frothed at the mouth and passed out upon logging off. He hadn't dared to return to the game since.

Yet, this "big shot" was not only being led into the back room by the alluring proprietress, but she was also doing so with a smile—a look of... keen interest and anticipation. It was enough to make their imaginations run wild! Could it be that there was some unspeakable quest in this game? One that involved... adult content?

At that thought, their blood pressure soared!

"What do you think they're doing in there?"

"A man and a woman, alone in a room..."

"It's just a game, what could they possibly do?"

"Heh, you don't get it! With the exaggerated realism in this game, aren't you curious about certain aspects? And since the game boasts a high degree of freedom, it’s reasonable for an NPC to have self-awareness and issue special quests with special rewards, right?"

"Don't listen to him. We're here for the quest, not to watch the proprietress! Wait, no, we're here to do quests, not to look at the proprietress!"

The group: "..."

As they left, disgruntled and ready to try another novice village, inside the tavern's storage room, the proprietress was rummaging through the clutter. Soon, she pulled out a slightly yellowed piece of parchment and handed it to Su Nian. "Here, this is what you wanted. Take it."

"Thank you."

Seeing Su Nian accept the parchment and turn to leave, the proprietress’s eyes glowed with a faint blue light. In that instant, all the information about the man before her was laid bare: over seventy thousand health points, a gear set of one red, two purple, and two blue items, and... a percentage-based execution talent!

"Perhaps you truly do have the qualifications to inherit it..." she murmured softly.

But in such a cramped room, how could the hyper-sensitive Su Nian fail to hear her?

"Inherit?" Su Nian turned back, puzzled. This was a term he had never heard in his past life! Even regarding the Divine Blessing, the few who had leaked information in his previous life claimed it required completing a specific, high-difficulty task. Because the Divine Blessing was so rare, even if players accepted such tasks, hardly one in ten million could complete them.

"It's nothing," the proprietress shook her head, her gaze deep. "Just a passing thought. Once you reach that place... whether you are qualified to inherit it or not depends entirely on you."

Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Su Nian left with a head full of questions. Back at the front desk, the proprietress watched his departing back. She seemed to be talking to herself, or perhaps to someone unseen.

"I thought it would take until at least level eighty for one of you outsiders to be qualified to even touch it. I didn't expect it to happen so soon..."

"I wonder if this is a blessing, or a curse?"