Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

After getting rid of the old man, Jiang Ran observed for a while and found that there was no response in the trial space.

(Hmm? Can we continue like this?)

Jiang Ran was a little surprised, but it was reasonable that he could continue.

If he really failed in the advanced trial, Jiang Ran didn't know how the rules of the advanced trial would end.

Now that he had rejected the old man's request, Jiang Ran had only one thing left to do: to explore what was on that mountain.

Yes, after going around in circles, Jiang Ran finally had to climb that mountain, but the fact that he didn't have to bring that old man with him was enough to make Jiang Ran happy.

Moreover, if he explored the mountain without the old man, he might find some profitable bugs. If they happened to be beneficial to Jiang Ran, he would make a fortune.

With a mood full of anticipation, Jiang Ran left the old man's groaning behind and set off towards the unknown mountains.

However, less than five minutes after setting off, Jiang Ran gave up the idea of ​​climbing the mountain alone and walked back to the old man with a headache.

As soon as the old man saw Jiang Ran coming, he immediately laughed happily, "Oh hehe~".

"Oh, young man, have you finally found your conscience?" the old man asked Jiang Ran with a smile.

"Yes, my conscience tells me that I can't leave you alone, grandpa." Jiang Ran's answer was even more emotionless than plain water.

"Oh, haha, then you still have a good conscience. Come on, carry me on your back. We have to set off quickly!"

The old man became even lazier than before. He didn't even stand up, but just lay on the ground waiting for Jiang Ran to carry him.

Jiang Ran looked at this annoying guy and felt extremely unwilling, but he really had no choice. He could only bite the bullet and squat down to carry the smelly old man on his back.

·

·

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9.41 - Evil-Eyed Crow

Jiang Ran was frustrated.

He had thought he could explore the mountain alone, but in reality, he couldn't do that.

Just now, after Jiang Ran shook off the old man and headed towards the mountain, he noticed something strange not long after he started walking:

No matter how he walked, the mountain seemed to be out of reach.

Jiang Ran tried various methods, even using the Shadow Escape Step, but the result was still the same.

After various tests, Jiang Ran finally confirmed that he was trapped by an invisible spherical cover. Although the cover could not be touched or seen, it existed there to restrict Jiang Ran from moving forward. Even if he destroyed the ground and tried to sneak through by digging a tunnel, he still encountered the same thing underground.

If we use the concept of video games in the Earth world to describe this phenomenon, the name "air wall" would be the most appropriate.

When this happened, Jiang Ran immediately realized that it was because he did not agree to the old man's request.

The "rules" of this trial space forced him to agree to the old man's request.

(This is a really rough rule.)

Jiang Ran sighed and had to turn around to look for the old man, which led to the scene just now.

·

Now, Jiang Ran carried the old man on his back and walked quickly towards the distant mountains. This time, he passed through the "air wall" without any hindrance, and the distance between him and the mountains began to shorten visibly.

"Oh, hehe~ young man, you have quite a good physique. You can carry such a huge sword and even carry me on your back. Your feet are clattering so fast. It really reminds me of my youth..."

The old man lay comfortably on Jiang Ran's back, chattering non-stop. His thick and hard beard pricked Jiang Ran's neck, which was very uncomfortable, but he could only bear it and continue to listen to the old man's nagging.

"I don't know how long I've been waiting here, but I can't find anyone willing to help me. Young man, you are the first one who agreed to take me to that mountain, oh hehe~"

Listening to the old man's rambling, Jiang Ran thought that since he couldn't change the current situation of having to help this old man, he might as well understand what this mission was so that he could "pass it" as soon as possible.

"Grandpa, what are you going to do on that mountain?" Jiang Ran asked.

The old man immediately perked up when he heard this question. He said cheerfully that he would go to the highest point of the mountain to pick a plant called "sunshine flower". As long as he brought the blooming sunshine flower back, crushed it and boiled it into soup for his grandson to drink, his grandson's strange disease would be cured.

"My grandson sings beautifully. When he recovers, I'll let him sing for you as a reward for helping me. What do you think, young man?"

"No problem, grandpa. I also hope your grandson can recover soon."

Jiang Ran answered without any emotion, because he knew that what the old man said was just a "setting".

In this trial space, whether it was this old man or every word he said, they were all used to test Jiang Ran's "settings". All Jiang Ran needed to do was to follow the rules, pass the test, and then get the reward.

·

As of now, regarding the "Old God" corresponding to this trial, Jiang Ran believes that the possibility of "God of Tenacity, Furtud" can be ruled out for now. The so-called "tenacity" should refer to the spiritual quality of never giving up in difficult or desperate situations, and the disgusting experience brought to him by this old man obviously has nothing to do with "tenacity".

Then, among the remaining three old gods, the one who is most compatible with this trial is still "God of Mercy, Qierli". Whether it is agreeing to help the old man in distress, or the old man having a grandson who is in urgent need of medicine, these should all be related to the quality of "benevolence and mercy".

However, Jiang Ran felt vaguely strange. If the trial was to test the quality of "kindness", why would it force him to agree to the old man's request?

To put it more extremely, this trial should have happened the moment I rejected the old man, so that the "heartless" me would have failed the challenge.

(Emm… Let’s just continue observing for now.)

After a brief thought, Jiang Ran turned his attention back to his surroundings, because he had just used his "all-round vision" to notice that six pitch-black birds were circling towards him.

·

It is very common to see birds flying in the sky, but in this trial space where birds don’t lay eggs, oh no, no birds lay eggs, the appearance of any flying creature will be a level one alert event.

As the six black birds gradually approached, Jiang Ran identified their information. As he expected, the black birds were all monsters named "Evil Eye Crows".

Jiang Ran had heard some rumors about crow monsters before. It was said that crow monsters all had skills related to "curse". The higher the level of the crow monster, the more difficult it was to deal with. If there were no combat professionals from the clergy system accompanying them, reward hunters would usually not take the initiative to provoke crow monsters.

The six evil-eyed crows flying towards Jiang Ran and the others at this moment are all first-level monsters.

Looking at these "little guys" who are only level 20, Jiang Ran really finds it hard to feel nervous.

However, Jiang Ran, who was always cautious, still adopted a safe strategy at this time. Before the evil-eyed crows took action, Jiang Ran summoned a black shadow clone behind him in advance, and then asked the black shadow clone to draw the Yama Knight Sword at his waist, fly up and cut down the attacking evil-eyed crows one by one.

·

As a monster, the evil-eyed crow is not very big, only about the same size as an adult crow. In addition to the conventional pecking with its sharp beak and scratching with its claws, its other attack action is to emit red light from its eyes, as if it is using some skill.

Jiang Ran immediately used the effect of "Shadow Stealing" to steal the skill of the Evil-Eyed Crow. The red eyes turned out to be the effect of the skill called "Intimidating Glance" when it was activated.

The specific effect of the Intimidating Glance skill is that there is a 50% chance of causing a single target within the field of view to fall into a cowardly state unable to fight, which lasts for five seconds and has a cooldown of 60 seconds. For every level higher the target's class is than the user, the success probability decreases by 15%.

Jiang Ran's current rank is level four, three levels higher than the Evil-Eyed Crow. Unless he is extremely unlucky, he will not be affected by the effects of this skill.

In addition, Jiang Ran is also blessed by the "Goddess of Courage, Eret". Under the effect of the inherent ability "Fearless Heart", even if he is unfortunately affected, it is estimated that it will not take effect.

(However... if you're seen, you could be hit, so you need to be careful with this unavoidable skill.)

What Jiang Ran was worried about was not the evil-eyed crows that were about to be killed. What he was really worried about was that these evil-eyed crows would inevitably have subsequent evolved species. When he faced a high-level crow monster, he would have to be careful.

·

In just a few blinks of an eye, all six evil-eyed crows were chopped down to the ground, and then sank into the dark magic circle that Jiang Ran was familiar with.

The monsters that appeared in this trial space were indeed related to the dark magic circle. This group of evil-eyed crows should be just the "appetizer"... Jiang Ran thought so.

Then, a little bit late, the old man lying on Jiang Ran's back realized what had happened. He jumped off Jiang Ran's back and lay on the ground shaking like a sieve, screaming in panic.

"Monster?!"

"Young man, was it you who created this shadowy figure?"

"Please be magnanimous, don't kill me...!"

9.42 - Solving Internal Troubles (Part )

Jiang Ran was not surprised by the old man's reaction.

According to this guy's personality, this is the expected reaction.

"Grandpa, don't worry. I won't kill you. I'm even going to send you to the mountain. Have you forgotten?"

Jiang Ran looked at the old man with a smile, thinking that it would be a good thing if this guy could be so submissive to him in the second half of the game.

However, Jiang Ran's thoughts at this time were too naive. He underestimated how disgusting this old man could be.

"Oh, oh, so that's how it is..."

The old man sat up on the ground, trembling, looking frightened.

He looked at Jiang Ran doubtfully for a while, then finally stood up and said to Jiang Ran cautiously, "Then, I'll trouble you from now on, young man."

"Don't worry, grandpa, I will keep you safe."

Jiang Ran gave the old man a confident smile, then walked forward and led the way.

This time, the old man finally subsided in his arrogance and no longer shamelessly asked Jiang Ran to carry him.

·

The two walked one after the other for a while and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Jiang Ran was a little surprised at the old man's walking speed, because this guy could actually walk as fast as a normal person, so the appearance of being unable to walk just now was simply deceiving.

However, even though Jiang Ran knew that the old man was lying, he could only turn a blind eye, because he was the only NPC for the mission.

Moreover, judging from the attack from the group of crow monsters just now, "protecting the old man's safety" is probably also a part of this trial. After starting to climb the mountain, Jiang Ran must always be careful and not let this old man lose his life.

"Oh my, oh my~ We're finally at the foot of the mountain~ I can't walk anymore, young man, shall we take a break?"

The old man seemed to be asking for opinions, but in fact he had already sat down on the ground.

Jiang Ran didn't care when he saw this. It would be a good idea to let the old man take a rest. He could just observe the terrain of the entire mountain in advance.

At this time, the old man began to get more and more demanding.

"Hey, boy, do you have any water? I'm so thirsty..."

"Hey, young man, do you have any food? My stomach is growling..."

"Hey, young man, how old are you this year? Are you married yet?"

"Hey, boy, don't go away! Ouch, ouch! I fell down!"

The old man's words became more and more excessive. Not only did he successfully eat up the only water and dry food that Jiang Ran brought with him, but after eating and drinking his fill, he suddenly started pretending that he had twisted his foot and could not walk.

"Ouch, ouch... I sprained my ankle so badly... I can't even stand up..."

The old man sat there, "crying" about how much pain he was in without saying anything. Jiang Ran sighed at the sight, and had a thousand or a hundred million thoughts in his mind, resisting the idea of ​​continuing to take this old man on the road.

But there was no way, Jiang Ran had no choice.

Now that the trial has reached this stage, taking the risk of testing the trial rules is not only cost-effective, but also has a very low risk-input-output ratio.

Out of consideration for his own interests, Jiang Ran could only torture himself and say words against his will.

"Come up, I'll carry you."

"Oh hehe~ young man, you are such a nice person!"

·

Carrying the giant beast horn sword and the old man on his back, Jiang Ran began to climb the mountain.

To be honest, with Jiang Ran's current physical condition, carrying a skinny old man weighing fifty or sixty kilograms is as stress-free as an ordinary person carrying a schoolbag. Even the giant beast horn sword is heavier than the old man.

However, this helpless feeling, as if the old man had a hold on him, really made Jiang Ran feel uncomfortable all over.

It's not that he is unwilling to help the weak, but that he is unwilling to help this ungrateful old fox.

The old man's drastic changes in attitude several times really fully demonstrated his bad nature of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

On the following mountain climb, the old man continued to find ways to take advantage of Jiang Ran, and he also played a negative role in several battles, almost causing Jiang Ran to be in danger due to the crow monster's skills.

Fortunately, Jiang Ran was very strong and he resolved the crises one after another. Finally, he climbed to a flat ground near the top of the mountain. After a short rest, he could launch a charge to the top of the mountain.

"Grandpa, I see the terrain on the top of the mountain is quite steep, with few footholds. How about you wait here for me and I'll go up and help you pick that 'Sunshine Flower'?"

Jiang Ran made a suggestion to the old man and complained in his heart why he hadn't thought of this idea earlier.

If this old man could agree, then Jiang Ran’s hard work would have been in vain.

"No, no, I'm the only one who knows what the sunshine flower looks like, and it will only look good if I pick it myself. You just need to carry me up there."

As a result, the old man flatly rejected Jiang Ran's proposal, and no matter how much Jiang Ran persuaded him, the old man still insisted on going up by himself.

(Okay, if that’s the case, then we can only send the Buddha to the west.)