Chapter 4

When the mind probes the soul crystal slot, different messages appear. Ye Luo was deep in thought, and at this moment, there was still some time before the game officially began. He carefully examined the War Soul soul crystal, wanting to learn more information.

After a few minutes, Ye Luo finally figured it out:

The slots on the War Soul soul crystal are equivalent to the equipment slots and backpacks in other virtual online games. Upon careful examination, Ye Luo found that the upper half of the War Soul soul crystal had three faces, two of which were the weapon equipment slot and the skill slot, while the other face was more mixed, containing the backpack space, pet space, mount space, and other items.

The weapon equipment slots were fewer, with only a dozen or so, including two weapon slots, one for the main weapon and one for the off-hand weapon. At this moment, the main weapon slot could be used, but the off-hand weapon slot had a "Prohibited" mark, clearly indicating it could not be used yet.

In addition to the main and off-hand weapon slots, there were slots for helmet, chest armor, arm guards, leg guards, shoes, cloak, rings, necklaces, and amulets. There were two ring slots, indicating that a game character could equip two rings.

Whether it was the weapon slots or the helmet slots, they were all collectively referred to as ordinary equipment. Below these slots were some other slots called special equipment slots, which could be used to equip special equipment.

Ye Luo carefully examined these special equipment slots, and when his mind probed them, no types of equipment that could be equipped appeared, just a blank space. Clearly, any special equipment could be freely chosen and equipped in these slots.

To Ye Luo's surprise, two of the special equipment slots already had equipment embedded. He hurriedly examined them:

【Ordinary Detector】 (Special Equipment)

Function: Can detect the attributes of monsters not more than 5 levels higher than the character (cannot be used on game characters)

Additional Characteristics: Cannot drop, cannot trade, cannot destroy

Equipment Requirements: None

【Communicator】 (Special Equipment)

Function: Communicate with friends (cannot be used in some special states or occasions)

Additional Characteristics: Cannot drop, cannot trade, cannot destroy

Equipment Requirements: None

After reading the attributes of these two pieces of equipment, Ye Luo felt like a frost-bitten eggplant. These two items were just the most ordinary items given by the system, far from being any kind of divine weapons.

Shaking his head, Ye Luo stopped looking at the equipment slots and then slightly examined the skill slots on the other face of the soul crystal.

The skill slots, as the name suggests, are for the skills that the game character can master. This face had many slots, numbering in the dozens or even hundreds, and there were also many blank areas, not knowing if new skill slots could be opened.

Of course, based on Ye Luo's understanding of the game, even if new skill slots could be opened, it would require extremely rare items, which could not be obtained in the early stages of the game.

The third face of the soul crystal, though mixed, was also easy to understand. As the name suggests, it was used to store game equipment, pets, and mounts.

What caught Ye Luo's attention was that there was a large blank area behind the twenty slots in the backpack space. Based on his experience with other virtual online games, twenty slots were far from enough, and this large blank area could certainly be opened up for new space, which also confirmed that the blank area behind the skill slots could be used to open new skill slots with special items.

In addition to these, Ye Luo's mind also received information about the soul crystal itself:

War Soul Soul Crystal

Rank: None, Initial State

Health: 100

Magic: 100

Ye Luo's total health was 110 points, and his magic was 110 points. The base attributes of the War Soul soul crystal added 100 health and 100 magic, while the additional 10 points of health and magic were increased by 1 point of constitution and 1 point of intelligence, respectively.

"Right, there are two pieces of equipment in the backpack space." Ye Luo suddenly remembered this and hurriedly used his mind to enter the backpack space to examine them:

【Beginner Iron Sword】 (Weapon * System Gift)

Attack: 1—1

Attack Interval: 2 seconds

Additional Characteristics: Cannot drop, cannot sell to the system store, cannot destroy, can trade

Level Requirement: 0

【Beginner Clothing】 (Chest Armor * System Gift)

Defense: 1—1

Additional Characteristics: Cannot drop, cannot sell to the system store, cannot destroy, can trade

Level Requirement: 0

After reading the attributes of these two pieces of equipment, Ye Luo was thoroughly disappointed, but he knew that something was better than nothing. With a thought, he controlled these two pieces of equipment to move to the main weapon slot and the chest armor slot on the soul crystal. Instantly, these two light masses were embedded, and his attack became 2—2, and his defense also became 2—2.

"In the game 'Heavenly Tribulation,' 1 point of strength increases 1 point of physical attack, 1 point of constitution increases 10 points of health and 1 point of physical defense. A level 0 character's average attack is around 6 points, defense is also around 6 points, and health is 160 points. My attributes are probably extremely poor." Ye Luo muttered, then thought of something and his expression became slightly excited: "Fortunately, I still have a Heavenly Tribulation trial mission. I hope I can pass the trial and choose a hidden profession, which would significantly improve my growth potential and make up for the character's inherent deficiencies."

Thinking this, Ye Luo hurriedly examined his mission list. This list was on the third face of the soul crystal, and he quickly found his Heavenly Tribulation trial mission. However, after seeing the mission, he was stunned and could no longer hold back his anger, cursing: "Damn it, you really want me to die!"

【Heavenly Tribulation Trial】 (Trial Mission, Difficulty: SS+)

Mission Content: Unknown

Mission Trigger Method: Unknown

Mission Rewards and Penalties: Unknown

Mission Requirements: Unknown

Mission Participants: 1 person

Almost everything was unknown, with only the number of participants being known, but this was of no use to Ye Luo. Anyone who encountered such a mission would probably be extremely frustrated.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Luo forced himself to calm down. He examined the mission several times, but naturally found nothing. He muttered to himself: "With the worst attributes, I only got a mission where I don't know anything. I have to say, my luck is a bit..."

"However, the difficulty coefficient of this mission is quite high, SS. The highest difficulty in the game 'Heavenly Tribulation' seems to be SSS." Ye Luo said, and then he checked the game system to learn about the specific difficulty levels in the game.

The game 'Heavenly Tribulation' has nine major difficulty levels, from easy to difficult: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. Additionally, each major level has three minor levels: Upper, Middle, and Lower. The trial mission Ye Luo received had a difficulty of SS Upper, which was almost the highest difficulty in the game.

"The worst attributes, and I have to complete a nearly impossible mission. This is a bit too much to ask." Ye Luo felt a bit regretful for the first time and sighed deeply: "I don't even know what the penalty will be if I fail the mission. It won't reduce my attributes to zero, will it?"

"Ah, I can only take it one step at a time. If it doesn't work out, I'll delete my character and start over." Ye Luo sighed, but he really didn't want to delete his character and start over.

According to the game rules, players can only delete their characters and start over after reaching level 40. Level 40 was still a long way off for Ye Luo, and by then, he would be far behind others, which was not what he wanted to see.

"Beep!" Suddenly, a clear sound pulled Ye Luo back to reality.

"System Notice: Dear player, please note that there are only 10 seconds left before the game starts. Please prepare to enter the game. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Enter the game!"

As the countdown ended, Ye Luo felt a bright light, and he appeared in a small village.

The village was not large, and the boundary could be seen at a glance, clearly marked by a fence. There were only a dozen or so buildings, extremely simple, and some villagers dressed in simple clothes were busy with their tasks, completely unaware of Ye Luo and the others who had suddenly appeared.

"Beep!"

"System Notice: Dear player, welcome to the 0099th beginner village. This beginner village initially has 100,000 players. We wish you a pleasant game experience!"

"Pleasant my ass, with my poor attributes..." Ye Luo cursed, but his attention was quickly drawn to the system notice. He muttered: "The 99th beginner village, with 100,000 players in each village. That's a lot of people."

As Ye Luo spoke, a series of white lights appeared, and then thousands of figures landed around him. After a brief moment of shock, they ran off in a frenzy, some holding beginner swords, others waving wands, some rushing into the village, and others rushing out, as if afraid of falling behind.

From his experience with other online games, Ye Luo knew that the early stages of the game were crucial. Laying a good foundation was very important for future development, so it was important to take on missions or kill monsters outside the village as soon as possible.

Seeing thousands of people blocking the entire village, Ye Luo temporarily gave up the idea of taking on missions and decided to go outside the village to kill monsters and experience the differences between the game and reality.

The beginner village had four gates, one in each direction. Ye Luo casually determined the direction and then headed towards the south gate, lightly swinging the beginner sword in his hand as he walked.

"The attack frequency is very slow, almost two seconds between attacks. It seems the 2-second attack interval on the beginner sword means exactly that." Ye Luo said, his brows slightly furrowed: "This attack frequency is too slow, much slower than in reality. I need to get used to it."

"Game introduction: The four basic attributes, including agility, increase attack speed. Should I add some agility in the future?" Ye Luo muttered, then shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Let's wait until I level up. I don't even know if the monsters in the beginner village are strong enough for me to defeat them with my current attributes."

As he spoke, Ye Luo had already reached outside the village. However, seeing several or even a dozen players fighting over a single monster, his brows furrowed even more. After using the special equipment, the detector, to check the attributes of the monsters, his brows furrowed even deeper, and he cursed again:

"Damn it, you really want me to die!"