Chapter 44: Reward Settlement

Near sunset, Su Liu slowly regained consciousness. The first thing she saw was the little furball holding a mineral water bottle in its mouth, looking at her with concern.

[That's wonderful, Sister Liuli, you're finally awake!]

At the same time, the system broadcast sounded—

[Congratulations, player Su Liu, for clearing the instance "Together Through Wind and Rain"]

[Rating: S]

[Instance Reward: Instance-exclusive chest "Companionship Chest" (Super Silver), Game Coins x30, Score +30]

!!!

Super Silver!

Su Liu instantly sobered up, feeling at that moment that all the effort she had poured into this instance was completely worth it.

The tiers of instance-exclusive resource chests are determined by the time period of the Beast Taming Survival game and the player's clearance rating.

Just like Su Liu's S-tier rating this time, since it occurred during the novice protection period, she was allocated the highest-tier resource chest available during that phase.

Although time in the Beast Taming Survival game pauses when a monthly mandatory instance takes place, the players genuinely experience the passage of time within the instance.

Su Liu reflected that the intensity of this mandatory instance had been quite high. Three days of poor sleep and high mental tension—fortunately, she had brought along plenty of special dishes that provided numerous buffs.

Yet at the same time, as long as one could persevere, avoid dragging others down too much, or abandon the instance midway, an instance rating would be granted. The higher the rating, the greater the rewards.

Those who forcibly exited the instance midway received an F-tier rating; not only did they miss out on resource chests, but they were also penalized with a deduction of 5 game coins and 5 score points.

E-tier granted only a low-tier instance-exclusive resource chest, with no game coins or score points.

D-tier featured the same low-tier instance-exclusive resource chest as E-tier, but came with 5 game coins and 5 score points.

C-tier provided a higher-tier instance-exclusive resource chest, along with 10 game coins and 10 score points.

B-tier offered an instance-exclusive resource chest of the same tier as C-tier, plus 15 game coins and 15 score points.

A-tier granted an even more advanced instance-exclusive resource chest, 20 game coins, and 20 score points.

And then came S-tier.

The utility of the score rating is quite significant for enhancing one's immediate combat capability.

When the score reaches 100 points, the player can randomly select a talent ability and thereafter obtain an opportunity to reroll their talent every quarter.

When the score reaches 200 points, the player can also randomly acquire a skill, using the same reroll mechanism as talents.

By extension, a new opportunity becomes available for every additional 100 points.

Time to open the chests!

Su Liu rolled out of bed, scooped up the little furball, and went over to open the instance-exclusive resource chest together.

[Congratulations, player, you have obtained: Weapon Upgrade Card x2, Spatial Evolution Stone x1, Backpack Expansion Card x1, Damaged Skill Book (Legendary) x1, Attribute Enhancement Pill x3, Wood x10, Glass x10, Stone x10, Refrigerator Blueprint Fragment (1/5) x2, Energy Food for Spirit Beasts x3, Super Supreme Pizza x3, Milk x3, Cola x3, Bandage x3, Battery x3]

A bumper harvest!

After opening the chest, Su Liu remembered the small pile of supplies she had foraged from Abyss-Back Reef. Although most had already been consumed, a small portion remained.

The abyss fat had not a single drop left; it was all poured into the lamp.

A small tube of ancient moss green saliva remained, though she had no idea what specific use it might have outside the instance.

As for flowers and grasses, there were quite a few. Su Liu counted them.

One abyss rose, three strands of heart-breaking withered grass, one moon-凝ing herb, two phantom roses, and about a dozen strands of fiber grass.

The abyss rose possessed the effect of briefly boosting spiritual energy, and most importantly, it had no side effects.

Such a fine treasure was something Su Liu decided to stash away for a rainy day.

She even wondered if there were seeds or pollen that could propagate more abyss roses.

Regrettably, not for the time being.

The moon-凝ing herb could protect the heart and lungs, offering remarkable benefits to both spirit beasts and humans.

The herb Su Liu had given to Lorin was precisely the moon-凝ing herb, which temporarily secured Little Yue's core.

As for the heart-breaking withered grass, true to its name, it was a highly toxic weed.

While it might not instantly kill upon contact with blood, within a quarter of an hour, without an antidote, death was certain.

Suddenly, the little furball scurried over, using its little paw to nudge the two phantom roses.

[Sister Liuli, want to eat~]

Su Liu stroked the little furball, not thinking too much about it. Regardless of whatever extraordinary powers the phantom roses might possess, her little furball wanted to eat them.

It must have them!

Su Liu gently rubbed the furball's large tail: "Be good, both of them are yours."

Hearing this, the little furball spun around in circles with joy, rubbing its two big tails against Su Liu repeatedly before happily bustling over to fiddle with the two phantom roses.

Su Liu immediately applied the backpack expansion card to herself; one can never have too much backpack capacity.

Upgraded from 20 slots to 30 slots, Su Liu could now pack all her basic materials along with other non-essential daily items, greatly conserving space.

Although the space was still somewhat limited, at least it was no longer as cramped as before.

Next, Su Liu consumed three attribute enhancement pills, raising her defense, strength, and agility by three points each.

As for the weapon upgrade cards, Su Liu decided to trade for another one at the trading hall.

Raising her two daggers to Level 3 would require three weapon upgrade cards for each.

The sharp and tough short dagger additionally required any identical metal x3, while the poisoned dagger additionally required any identical poison x3.

Since she happened to have three strands of heart-breaking withered grass, Su Liu planned to upgrade the poisoned dagger first to secure a fatal strike and take down opponents at maximum speed.

Afterward, Su Liu gazed at the legendary-grade damaged skill book. This item seemed compatible with the furball's empty skill slot.

The only problem was...

How on earth does one repair this thing?

Su Liu scratched her head and decided to set it aside for now.

Acquiring a refrigerator blueprint was something Su Liu had never expected.

That is fantastic!

With a refrigerator, Su Liu immediately envisioned delicious iced watermelon, ice cream, iced beverages...

Just thinking about it made her mouth water.

Hehehe...

Rumble...

It seemed to be mealtime.

Su Liu rubbed her rumbling stomach and decided to make a batch of honey-brewed thunderberry pie.

She unwrapped a package of Super Supreme Pizza to share with the little furball.

Pure bliss!

Su Liu felt as though she hadn't eaten pizza in ages, let alone a Super Supreme Pizza. The moment it touched her lips, it was absolute culinary perfection!

The little furball squeaked in amazement, its two large tails swinging so fast they blurred into afterimages.

Beholding herself and the little furball eating to their heart's content, Su Liu burped happily while the rich aroma of pizza still lingered in the air.

She glanced at the two remaining fully packaged [Super Supreme Pizzas], then looked at the 30 game coins she had just earned from clearing the S-tier instance displayed on her game panel, and began calculating in her mind.

"For a luxury item like this, keeping one as a backup is enough."

Su Liu tapped open the trading hall operation panel, skillfully splitting the remaining two pizzas into individually purchasable slices.

Considering the current degree of material scarcity, especially since high-calorie, delicious cooked food was the ultimate hard currency, she unhesitatingly set a "high price"—

Each slice of pizza could be exchanged for 1 spirit beast evolution stone fragment (wind or space attribute preferred), or an equivalent 3 portions of basic food/water, or other equivalent supplies.

[Trading Hall (District 888) New Listing: Doomsday Outlaw is selling [Super Supreme Pizza (Single Slice)] x 12. Exchange Requirement: See product description. Limited-time flash sale.]

The moment the trade listing went live, in less than a minute, twelve system notification chimes for successful trades rang out in a continuous cascade!

The twelve slices of pizza were swept clean in an instant!

The chat hall directly exploded. Players who had just survived the monthly mandatory instance were in a state of exhaustion with their supplies completely depleted; this fragrant pizza advertisement was nothing short of a nuclear-grade mental stimulus.

[Chat Hall - Regional Channel 888]