Holding the "Edict of Punishment: Zhenyuan Garrison Punishment Mission," Guhan looked at the advertisement paper, which was similar to a flyer, featuring the half-portraits of three beautiful girls and a large amount of descriptive text. This was the fundamental reason why Nianyue had invited Guhan.
The Punishment Mission is a very rare type of mission in "Sword Maiden OL." Unlike dungeons that anyone can grind, a Punishment Mission requires an "Edict of Punishment" to challenge specific bosses and boss maps.
The drop rate of the "Edict of Punishment" is very low, and many players may not even participate in a Punishment Mission once in their lifetime, making it a lifelong regret for these players.
In contrast to the low drop rate of the "Edict of Punishment," the rewards from the Punishment Mission are very rich. Each boss will drop certain tokens of Sword Maidens and some extremely rare items. Therefore, whenever an "Edict of Punishment" appears in the auction house, it triggers fierce bidding from the big players, with the transaction price often reaching hundreds of thousands of RMB.
"I know that Admiral, you have astonishing strength, and I hope you can help our Nianyue Sect complete this Punishment Mission." Nianyue swirled the wine in her glass and said leisurely, "I wonder if Admiral is willing to lend a hand to Nianyue."
"Punishment Mission!" Guhan looked at the Edict of Punishment in his hand with a playful expression. "I doubt many players can resist the temptation of a Punishment Mission, but I'm curious, why did you, Lord Nianyue, invite a newcomer like me? Are you so confident in my strength?"
"First, it was Frog who strongly recommended you to me. He said your strength surpasses the so-called level restrictions," Nianyue said, counting on her slender fingers.
"Second, the golden title above your head, 'First in the Yuewang Goujian Sword,' is not something a weak person can wear."
"Third, the restriction of this Punishment Mission is that the total number of players cannot exceed five, with no more than one player at the Famous Sword level and no more than two at the Treasure Sword level. Unfortunately, we three have already taken up the slots above the Ancient Sword level, leaving only the Ancient Sword level slots."
"Fourth, the rewards from this Punishment Mission are significant. I don't want to bring anyone I don't trust into this mission." Nianyue's reasons were well-thought-out, indicating that she had carefully considered inviting Guhan to join the Punishment Mission.
"Your reasons are very convincing, and I have no reason to refuse!" Guhan nodded. "However, if I join this Punishment Mission, I have a few conditions, and I hope Lord Nianyue will agree."
"Hey, you're really ungrateful! Our leader invited you to join a Punishment Mission that you might never get to join in your lifetime, and you still dare to set conditions! Do you believe that if I shout in the world channel, a group of top Ancient Sword level players will vie to please our leader and beg her to take them along?" Anning exploded when Guhan spoke, clearly very dissatisfied with his unappreciative behavior.
However, Anning was telling the truth. If Nianyue really posted a world channel recruitment, the players who wanted to join could line up from Yuzhang City to Yanjing City.
"Ha!" Guhan sneered. "The Zhenyuan Garrison Punishment Mission is not a simple Punishment Mission. From its first release to today, it has appeared over two hundred times, with a success rate of less than a pitiful five percent. Which of the players who took on the Punishment Mission wasn't a famous expert? Yet over 95% of them failed. I'm not looking down on you, but with your current strength, you would fail a hundred times out of a hundred."
"Hey, from what you're saying, adding you, this unreliable Ancient Sword level player, will help us complete the Punishment Mission!" Anning's face was full of disdain as she pouted and mocked.
"Hmph, you're right. With me, the success rate is this!" Guhan extended one finger.
"What does one finger mean? One percent?"
"No, one hundred percent!!" Guhan retracted his finger and turned to look at Nianyue, who had been silent, clearly not wanting to waste any more words on Anning and wanting to communicate with the person who could make the final decision.
"State your conditions!" Nianyue put away her smile for the first time.
"You mentioned four reasons, so I will make four conditions!" Guhan raised his fingers again.
"First, I will only temporarily join your team for this mission. After the Punishment Mission is completed, I will leave the team, and you must not stop me!" Guhan stated his first condition.
"No problem, I agree!" The first condition did not involve any interests, so Nianyue readily agreed.
"Second, the command for this Punishment Mission will be mine, and you must all follow my orders! Not a single word can be disobeyed!" Guhan glanced at the indignant Anning. "Especially this girl named Anning. If any of my commands are not followed, I will immediately commit suicide and leave the Punishment Mission."
Guhan's second condition was more difficult for Nianyue. Although he had an SSS-level aura, it was only from the initial dungeon. For an unfamiliar Punishment Mission, how could Nianyue, an ambitious woman, place all her trust in a newcomer?
Therefore, Nianyue hesitated, instinctively wanting to refuse Guhan's request.
"Leader, you must agree to this point!" At this moment, Frog spoke, his face serious and solemn. "Admiral has studied the game for twelve years and has read millions of game strategy posts. I can guarantee that there are very few people in this world who understand the game better than Admiral. Leader, trust Frog. Following Admiral's command will not be wrong."
"..." Nianyue closed her eyes and thought for a long time before finally saying, "I agree to this point. I will instruct Anning to follow your command throughout the mission."
"Very well, then the third condition is that we will not recruit any more players for this Punishment Mission. The four of us are enough!"
Guhan's words surprised Nianyue again. Because the Punishment Mission is very difficult, other players completing it always filled the maximum number of players, hoping to bring as many people as possible. This guy, however, did the opposite, not even filling the team. Could it be that he really has some unique super strategy?
"Why? I know a very powerful Ancient Sword level player. With his help, filling the team to five people would increase the chances of success," Nianyue said.
"There's no need for that. More people mean more divided rewards. The rewards from the Punishment Mission do not increase with the number of people. Besides, I've already said that with me, the success rate is one hundred percent," Guhan boasted.
Nianyue still felt uneasy, but thinking about Guhan's point about more people dividing the rewards, she inexplicably agreed... Indeed, greed is a natural human trait.
"The fourth condition is the distribution of rewards," Guhan finally said. Nianyue's ears perked up immediately. This was the most important issue. What outrageous demands would this boastful guy make?
"First, the distribution mode for this mission must be changed to the Captain's Distribution mode, not the Free Pick-up or Random Distribution mode. However, don't worry, you will be the captain, and I only require you to allocate all items that can increase sword essence to me."
"What do you need these items for?" When Guhan mentioned the Captain's Distribution mode, Nianyue thought he wanted to control the distribution, but it turned out he only wanted all the items that increase sword essence.
If it were the Free Pick-up or Random Distribution mode, the sword essence pills might fall to others. Once a player touches them, they become automatically bound and non-tradable. Only the Captain's Distribution mode can concentrate the dropped sword essence pills on one player.
However, why did this Admiral want all the sword essence pills? Even if all the sword essence pills from the mission went to him, they wouldn't exceed 100, and a mere 100 points of sword essence value—wasn't that less valuable than other rare items?
Nianyue, of course, didn't know that with Guhan's pitiful 0.009 conversion rate, he needed a massive amount of sword essence to get closer to his dream.
"I agree, all items that can increase sword essence are yours!" Nianyue quickly agreed, though she was still puzzled by Guhan's request.
"Also, I don't need any other items dropped by the mission boss, but if the 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword' drops, it must be mine!" Guhan stated his final condition.
"You want the 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword'!" Nianyue's expression changed. "That is the token of the Yitian Sword, ranked first in the 'Treasure Sword Record.' Do you think you can get such a precious token just by saying so?" The Yitian Sword is the most powerful of all Treasure Sword level Sword Maidens, and the 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword' is its exclusive token. Only by collecting ten 'Secret Manuals of the Yitian Sword' and giving them to the Yitian Sword can one gain its recognition and the opportunity to synchronize with it. The overall drop rate of the 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword' is extremely low, and ten are required to use it.
At one time, a Yitian Sword token was put up for auction and sold for 600,000 RMB, becoming the most expensive Famous Sword level token in history.
Today, no player in the entire game owns the Sword Maiden Yitian Sword. Does this guy plan to become the wielder of the Yitian Sword?
"The 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword' is indeed very precious, but it also depends on whether it drops!" Guhan said calmly. "According to statistics, the drop rate of the 'Secret Manual of the Yitian Sword' in this Punishment Mission is no more than 0.5%, or one in two hundred. If it doesn't drop, I will return empty-handed, which would be a wasted trip. Do you still think my request is unreasonable?"
"Moreover, the Zhenyuan Garrison Punishment Mission has a 5% chance of dropping that item. Compared to that, the token of the Yitian Sword is nothing."
Nianyue was silent. As Guhan said, although theoretically, the Zhenyuan Garrison Punishment Mission could drop the token of the Yitian Sword, the probability was so low that it was almost zero. This Admiral would likely return empty-handed, getting nothing.
Moreover, she only cared about the item Guhan mentioned. As for the Famous Sword level tokens, they were no longer significant to her.