secret dice.

Chapter 786 Treasure Bay
"Something's up!" Mu Lanshi reacted quickly, immediately drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. A soft light wrapped around the arrowhead, and with a snap, the bowstring twanged, and the arrow trailed a white light as it shot straight toward the dark figure!
The dark figure was also very agile, turning in mid-air to dodge. However, a glint flashed in Mu Lanshi's eyes, and the arrow also turned, chasing after its opponent!

Caught off guard, the shadowy figure was struck by the arrow. However, when the arrow pierced the figure, there seemed to be no real sensation of hitting a target, and the figure's movements were not affected in any way!
Clearly, this is a ethereal spirit!

But then, the soft light attached to the arrow suddenly exploded, turning into a dazzling white light!

The dark figure finally drifted down to the ground. It was a semi-transparent black ghost, wearing a tricorn hat, an eyepatch over one eye, and an iron hook on its remaining hand, looking every bit like a pirate.

Although its body was still intact, it was flickering with light. Mulan Shi activated her Eye of Insight and discovered that its health bar was less than half full.

“A pirate ghost…and a rather high rank, at least a first mate…” Golden Rose brandished her greatsword and looked at Mulan Shi: “I knew I hadn’t misjudged you. You have the potential to become a top mercenary!”

With that, she pointed her longsword at the pirate ghost: "Kill him!"

The mage behind Golden Rose picked up his staff, and bursts of magical missiles shot out, blasting the pirate ghost so that it had to dodge left and right. Just then, a mercenary dressed as a priest suddenly summoned a beam of holy light that descended from the sky and landed on the head of the fast-moving pirate ghost, freezing it in place!
It's a guaranteed hit lock-on skill!
Upon seeing this, Mulan Shi's eyes lit up, and she shot another arrow with a soft glow, aiming it straight at the pirate ghost!

Just then, another dark figure appeared, raised his hand and fired a shot, hitting Mulan Shi's arrow squarely. Holy light exploded in the air, and after the light subsided, a tall pirate ghost with a thick beard stood in front of the mutilated ghost who had been frozen in the holy light. He held a flintlock pistol in his left hand and a gleaming sword in his right, and a large parrot perched on his shoulder, perfectly matching people's stereotypical image of a pirate.

“This time it’s a captain-class.” Golden Rose frowned. “And these kinds of monsters usually don’t appear alone.”

As she spoke, she looked around. Everywhere were the wreckage of sunken ships, some pirate vessels, others official warships. Black smoke billowed from the pirate ships, forming countless ghostly pirate figures that surrounded the mercenary team.

Treasure Bay is riddled with reefs, making it impassable for ordinary ships. Legend has it that long ago, a powerful pirate crew comprised of multiple fleets controlled the area and used it as their stronghold. However, Harbor later mobilized a large number of warships to launch a fierce attack, suffering heavy losses before finally annihilating the pirates. Since then, however, the bay has been haunted by the spirits of countless fallen pirates and soldiers, becoming a perilous place forbidden to the living.

Legend has it that deep within Treasure Bay lies a vast treasure left behind by pirate groups. Over the years, mercenary groups have come here one after another in an attempt to find the treasure, but most have suffered heavy losses and returned empty-handed.

This time, the Rose Mercenary Group came here on an A-level mission: to find the treasure location of the pirate crew's third fleet and bring back one of the important treasures.

"Are these the pirates of the third fleet?" A two-meter-tall female warrior stepped forward from the group, slamming her heavy shield on the ground: "Come on, let me show you how powerful the Black Wind Pirates were hundreds of years ago!"

The battle was about to begin. The numerous pirates, like a black whirlwind, surrounded the Rose Mercenary Group. Although the mercenary group was outnumbered, the individual members were stronger. With their tacit cooperation, various combat skills, magic, and ample supplies, they defeated the pirates one by one!

In the end, after a fierce battle, only one pirate captain remained to fight, and his opponent was none other than the mercenary captain, Golden Rose!

The two figures flew up and down, as if they had transformed into two beams of light, one black and one gold, constantly clashing and fighting fiercely!
"To fight the captain to this extent, this pirate ghost must be at least an A-rank monster," the red-robed mage in the group sneered. "But unfortunately, the captain is one of the strongest among A-rank mercenaries!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sword flashed past, and the ghost pirate captain was struck by a diagonal slash. His health bar was instantly emptied, and his body turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated.

"We finally killed the leader!" The team members cheered, and then began to clean up the battlefield.

After these pirate ghosts die, they turn into a pool of semi-gelatinous remains from which rhomboid crystals can be found. These crystals contain powerful spiritual energy and are materials needed for many magical experiments, fetching a considerable price.

According to the mission contract, their main purpose was to locate the third treasure site and bring back the mission items. The treasure within the site was off-limits and belonged to Harbor. In the game world, guild missions have certain constraints on NPCs and even players. If a mercenary group attempted to keep the treasure for themselves, they would be blacklisted by the guild, losing not only the reward but also incurring numerous additional penalties. Of course, NPCs are generally quite law-abiding; this measure was primarily to prevent players prone to causing trouble.

However, in return, the guild will give them generous rewards after completing the mission, including a large amount of wealth and experience. At the same time, the spoils of war from defeating monsters in battle will also belong to the Rose Mercenary Group.

“Your abilities are perfect for dealing with ghost-like monsters.” Golden Rose picked up a rather large crystal and handed it to Mulan Shi, which must have come from the pirate first mate: “You have arrows that can turn at will and the ability to manipulate holy light. Normally, it would be more difficult for us to deal with pirate ghosts of this level. With you here, our efficiency in fighting ghosts has improved a lot.”

"That's my honor." Mu Lanshi smiled and accepted the crystal. This quality could sell for at least three gold coins. The money she spent on Luo Jun's upgrade yesterday was immediately recouped, and could even double.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the group continued forward and, after passing through the wreckage of several sunken ships, came across a cave.

"Be careful! We should be the first people to get here," Golden Rose said. "We don't know what dangers are lurking in the cave!"

The cave looked fairly spacious from the outside, but it gradually narrowed inside, allowing only one person to pass at a time. The heavily armored female warrior took the lead, followed by the others, with Golden Rose bringing up the rear.

After navigating a narrow and winding road, the view suddenly opened up, and everyone arrived at a spacious cave filled with piles of gold coins and jewels, which, despite being hundreds of years old, still shone brightly.

Among them, the most eye-catching is a long sword stuck in the pile of treasure!
This sword is exquisitely crafted, with a scabbard adorned with magnificent pearls and gemstones, a hilt wrapped in the hide of an unknown sea creature, and an inlaid, incredibly translucent sapphire at the end. It is more like a work of art than a weapon.

Golden Rose stepped forward, picked up the sword, and drew it. The blade was still sharp, without a trace of rust, and it also emitted a powerful magical aura.

"These are the quest items. Our quest is basically complete!" Golden Rose sheathed her sword and put it into her backpack. She instructed her subordinates, "Mark this location on the map and leave a magical marker. Then we can head back."

While everyone else was busy, Mulan Shi suddenly noticed an inconspicuous crack in the rock wall.

As a practitioner of manipulation techniques, she was particularly skilled at manipulating small objects such as arrows and bullets, paying special attention to precision, and therefore was exceptionally sensitive to airflow. She noticed that inside the cave, there was a barely perceptible crack emanating a faint airflow.

"There's an opening behind this!" Mu Lanshi shouted, touching the rock wall. "We can break through here; there's another passageway behind!"

"An extra branch road?" Jin Qiangwei stepped forward, looked carefully, and confirmed that Mulan Shi was right. There was space behind this wall, and the wall was very thin, making it easy to break through.

"Legend has it that the legendary pirate crew of yesteryear had seven divisions," said the most learned red-robed mage in the group. "We've already found the treasures of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh divisions, but the whereabouts of the three strongest divisions have remained unknown. If there's a hidden door behind this, it's possible it leads to the treasures of the first two divisions."

“But we haven’t received any missions to find the treasures of the first two teams yet, have we?” Mulan Shi said. “Isn’t it better if we haven’t?” said a thief with short purple hair in the group. “Without missions, we can keep the treasures all to ourselves!”

“Don’t have such thoughts!” Golden Rose said, “The pirates’ treasures are obtained by plundering the wealth of the people of the Gulf Province. According to the laws of the Empire, they belong to the provincial government.”

"I was just saying that," the female thief said playfully, sticking out her tongue.

“However, we can explore further,” Golden Rose said. “After all, if it really leads to other treasures or we make other discoveries, we can definitely get a bigger reward if we report it back to the Mercenary Guild!”

The team members nodded in agreement and immediately began digging. Before long, they opened a passage, and the sound of wind could be faintly heard from deep within.

"Let's go take a look!" Golden Rose led the way, heading deeper into the passage...

……

"Congratulations on completing the mission! This is the reward you were promised!"

At the mercenary guild in Harbor, Luo Jun led his eight-man team to hand over their spoils and received a substantial reward. But more importantly, with the mission completion notification, Luo Jun gained a huge amount of experience points.

"Are there any more difficult tasks?" Luo Jun asked eagerly.

"Do you want to take on more missions?" The receptionist looked surprised. "You've already completed six C-level missions today. That's far more efficient than the average mercenary team. You must be exhausted."

"It's alright!" Luo Jun turned to look at the remaining seven people: "Are you all not tired either?"

"Not tired, not tired..." The group quickly waved their hands.

Of course they weren't tired. For most of the day, they hadn't left the city. Each time, after accepting a mission, Luo Jun would leave on his own and return with the spoils in no time. All they had to do was make up the numbers when handing over missions, which was something Luo Jun had asked them to do.

The mission rewards were split equally, with all the loot going to Luo Jun. The others simply needed to make up the numbers to take on the missions. After all, the guild had rules that, for safety reasons, to take on high-level missions, the team's size and level had to meet certain standards. If it was just Luo Jun alone, a lone D-rank mercenary, he could only take on E-rank missions at most, and the experience gain would be too slow.

"In that case..." Although the receptionist was surprised, he was, after all, a functional NPC, and he would grant any request that did not violate the rules.

"You've already completed all the C-level missions. There are only two B-level missions and one A-level mission that haven't been taken on yet... But given your team's level, I'm afraid..."

“We’ve done so many missions, shouldn’t we have leveled up by now?” Luo Jun suggested.

"Several D-rank mercenaries in your team have indeed met the requirements to upgrade to C-rank mercenaries, but B-rank missions require at least three B-rank mercenaries to undertake," the receptionist explained. "The Mercenary Guild judges mercenaries' ranks not only by the number of missions completed, but also by the mercenaries' own ranks. None of your team members meet the requirements to be promoted to B-rank mercenaries."

"My own level... is that the same as my character level? What are the requirements?"

"According to the guild rules, the minimum level for D-rank mercenaries is level 5, for C-rank mercenaries it is level 12, for B-rank mercenaries it is level 25, and for A-rank mercenaries it is level 50."

"Of course, this is just the lower limit. Considering their combat skills and accumulated mercenary missions, mercenaries at each level usually far exceed the corresponding lower limit," the receptionist patiently explained.

Luo Jun nodded. That made sense. In the world of the game, an NPC's level directly determined their basic attributes and the strength of the skills they could cultivate, thus determining their overall strength. Even for cultivators who entered this world with special abilities, the extra boost from leveling up was considerable.

Luo Jun looked at his panel. Although his experience bar was full long ago, he hadn't been to the training ground, so his level was still stuck at level twelve.

However, since the second mission, he has become the leader of the team. He gets a bonus to the experience reward for each mission he completes, and he also monopolizes all the monster experience. He should be able to level up a lot now.

"Alright, let's go level up now!" With that, Luo Jun turned and left with the group, telling them to come with him to the training ground to improve their levels.

Leveling up increases strength, and everyone who followed Luo Jun earned a lot of money and accumulated a lot of experience, so naturally no one had any objections.

After evaluation, Luo Jun was directly promoted from level twelve to level twenty-six, meeting the promotion requirements for level B.

After the upgrade, Luo Jun led everyone back to the Mercenary Guild and upgraded their mercenary levels. In the end, three of the five members of the group became B-level mercenaries. Although Luo Jun's level was high enough, he was a newcomer who had just registered and did not have enough mission experience, so he only received a C-level rating.

Even so, they met the requirements for accepting a B-level mission, and Luo Jun excitedly went to find the receptionist to accept the mission.

"Although the conditions are met, unfortunately..." The receptionist gave a business-like smile: "Both B-level missions have just been taken... Now, for C-level and above, there's only one A-level mission left."

"Grade A..." Luo Jun really wanted to do it, but the conditions weren't met.

"However, the famous Wolf Fang Mercenary Group does want to take on A-level missions, but they are one person short. Would you like me to help you communicate with them?" The receptionist smiled and said, "Although their requirement is B-level or above, considering your feat of completing six C-level missions in one day as the leader, they might make an exception and agree."

Luo Jun's eyes lit up upon hearing this: "Then I'll leave it to you!"

(End of this chapter)