In the silent Main God Space plaza, standing beneath the Main God's luminous sphere, Zhou Ming felt a sense of being in another world.
Although the combined time in this plot world was less than two months, the battles Zhou Ming experienced were more than he had in the past year combined.
The high-density, high-intensity combat provided Zhou Ming with unparalleled tempering of his will, allowing him to grow through hardship and stand firm through trials.
And now, with one plot world concluded, it was finally time for the harvest.
[Task settlement complete, please check it yourself.]
[Task 1: Go to Dick State and find Dr. Max. Task completed, gained 1000 reward points. Task completion rating: Excellent.]
[Task 2: Protect Dr. Max to Shandar City. Task completed, gained 3000 reward points. Task completion rating: Excellent.]
[Task 3: Protect Shandar City until the production of kenny potion is complete. Task successful, gained 5000 reward points. Task completion rating: Perfect.]
[Kill reward settlement: Normal zombie kills 587605, gained 588 reward points; Elementary Mutant kills 336, gained 336 reward points; Advanced Mutant kills 59, gained 5900 reward points; Super Mutant kills 18, gained 18000 reward points; Ultimate Mutant kills 2, gained 20000 reward points, two special rewards. Kill performance is not included in the overall task evaluation, nor is it included in the reward points special reward bonus.]
[Overall task evaluation: Nine Stars.]
[Gained Special Reward One: 190% bonus to total reward points.]
[Gained Special Reward Two: One Nine Stars lottery qualification, can choose designated draw or random draw.]
[Gained Special Reward Three: Two special rewards for killing Ultimate Mutants.]
[Gained Special Reward Four: Next task hint, this reward will be issued one day before the task begins.]
[The next task world will be entered in 90 days.]
All three main tasks were completed, yielding 9000 reward points, which became 17100 points after the 190% bonus.
Adding the 44824 reward points accumulated from killing zombies, Zhou Ming's final total reward points amounted to 61924 points.
This was still because the reward points Zhou Ming gained from killing zombies were not included in the 190% bonus; otherwise, his reward points could have even exceeded one hundred thousand!
"Sixty thousand reward points for one task, haha, it truly lives up to its reputation as the last opportunity to farm points among the three novice tasks!"
With a light chuckle, Zhou Ming reviewed the task settlement again, but noticed an unreasonable detail.
"In the second task, being chased by the Ultimate Mutant, I don't know how much effort it took to safely reach Shandar City, yet it only received an Excellent rating?"
"Conversely, for the third task, I didn't even enter Shandar City, yet the task evaluation was Perfect."
"Could it be that the Main God's standard for task completion evaluation isn't how difficult it was to complete the task, but rather how to complete it better and simpler?"
Zhou Ming pondered this carefully and found that his conjecture seemed to be correct.
If in the second task, Zhou Ming and his companions could have reached Shandar City in the shortest possible time, even without any combat, the evaluation for that task would have significantly improved.
Similarly, although Zhou Ming never stepped foot into Shandar City for the third task, he single-handedly almost cleared zombies within a hundred-mile radius of Shandar City, ensuring that Shandar City didn't even experience any battles against zombie attacks for a month.
Therefore, Zhou Ming's evaluation for the third task was a 'Perfect' rating, surpassing 'Excellent,' and the overall evaluation for this task ultimately reached Nine Stars.
Compared to the second task in the Warrior World, which only achieved eight stars by relying on an Excellent-rated hidden task and a triggered hidden plot, the value of this 'Perfect' evaluation was self-evident.
"Calculated this way, there were actually many areas in this plot that could have improved the evaluation. The establishment of Shandar City, Dr. Max's genetic evolution research, and even the origin of the zombie virus, all had the potential to uncover hidden plots."
"Unfortunately, my Wisdom Path is still insufficient. If I cultivated the Wisdom Path, perhaps I could have analyzed more information and significantly increased the benefits."
Although the Wisdom Path is an enduring Dao in the Gu World, its Legacy has never been widespread, accessible only to a few Gu Masters. Zhou Ming, even if he wanted to Cultivate the Wisdom Path, lacked the conditions.
He could, however, exchange for items potentially related to the Wisdom Path from the Main God and bring them back to the Gu World to try his luck at refining Wisdom Path Gu worms.
However, this method would incur too great a cost, and since Zhou Ming's current Dao had not yet reached a Bottleneck, there was no need to pursue this path.
After the task settlement, it was time for the customary lottery draw.
First was one Nine Stars lottery qualification, and Zhou Ming, as usual, chose a designated draw.
[You have chosen a designated draw qualification. You have obtained the following five reward options: Drought Demon Blood (one drop), Life Tree Root (one section), Soul Devouring Refining Scripture, Divine Blade Beiming, Sky Sniper.]
Drought Demon Blood: Zombie, hated by heaven and earth, not within the Five Elements of heaven and earth, not entering the Six Paths of Reincarnation. Drought Demon brings calamity, like scorching fire. A drop of Drought Demon Blood can transform a person into a zombie, directly entering the realm of eternal life and immortality.
Life Tree Root: Growing in the Garden of Eden, an immortal tree, a section of its root also possesses infinite potential.
Soul Devouring Refining Scripture: Slaughter billions, Soul Devour and Spirit Refining! Devour the Souls of other living beings to nourish oneself and enhance one's own Soul foundation.
Divine Blade Beiming: Forged from the profound ice marrow of the North Sea, tens of thousands of years old. When the divine blade is unsheathed, all things freeze. The divine weapon has a spirit and will not harm its master.
Sky Sniper: A heavy sniper, a product combining electromagnetic structure and runic technology. Its powerful kinetic energy, coupled with specialized bullets, is enough to instantly break powerful barrier shields and destroy large war constructs.
Just like last time, there were still five rewards, but this time it lacked the Sword Dao and gained a Drought Demon Blood, which should be because Zhou Ming removed the Sword Dao Gu worm from his body and replaced it with the Corpse Heart Gu.
The Nine Stars rewards, each of them extremely precious.
However, this time it was Zhou Ming's fastest choice.
"Soul Devouring Refining Scripture, that's it!"
Zhou Ming's Soul foundation had reached the limit of a hundred-person Soul in the zombie world, and after several days of refinement by the Wood Soul Gu, it had now transformed into a Wood Soul, increasing its upper limit and allowing for further strengthening.
However, strengthening the Soul with pure Soul crystals was ultimately not a long-term solution.
He spent a total of fifty thousand reward points and one hundred days to strengthen it to a hundred-person Soul. If he were to strengthen it to a thousand-person Soul using this method, both the time and resources consumed would be too immense.
Zhou Ming had always been searching for other methods to enhance his Soul foundation, but he hadn't yet found a suitable means in either the Gu World or the Main God Space.
There are many Soul Path Cultivation Techniques in the Main God Space, but most of them have prerequisite Cultivation requirements, such as needing the ancestral orifice between the eyebrows, needing a Soul Spiritual Root, needing to open the first mysterious aperture, and so on. As for items that enhance the Soul, many are like pure Soul crystals, and their cost-effectiveness isn't even as high as pure Soul crystals.
And in the Gu World, although the Soul Path is now a grand and glorious Dao, the methods for enhancing one's foundation are not common knowledge.
In the original work, Dongfang Yuliang, the Clan Chief of the Dongfang Family of the Northern Plains Golden Family, endured immense suffering using the secret Huanglian Gu and Lingchi Gu of his Family, and it took him ten years to raise his Soul foundation to a thousand-person Soul.
Among Gu Masters, this was already a remarkable achievement. Not to mention the effects of ordinary Gu worms, Zhou Ming simply couldn't rely on them.
But now, Zhou Ming had found new hope.
The designated draw rewards given by the Main God have a minimum principle: Zhou Ming can use them, and they are guaranteed to be usable.
Just like after the first plot world ended, the Wood Spiritual Root obtained from the draw had no prerequisite usage conditions; it could be used immediately.
It was just that Zhou Ming himself didn't know how to use it, so he spent 200 reward points for the Main God to strengthen it for him.
Now, Zhou Ming was a hundred percent certain that the "Soul Devouring Refining Scripture" was absolutely the same. Under the premise that Zhou Ming could Cultivate it, the Main God could also directly enhance it for him with one click.
As Zhou Ming confirmed his choice, the Main God's prompt confirmed his guess.
[Obtained "Soul Devouring Refining Scripture", you can choose to Cultivate it yourself, or have the Main God enhance it for you, directly entering the Elementary stage. Enhancement requires 2000 reward points.]
"Only 2000?" Zhou Ming sneered, immediately choosing to enhance it.
Were 2000 reward points still money to him?
A pillar of light descended, enveloping Zhou Ming.
Within the pillar of light, countless tiny glowing particles transformed into minute runes, constantly rotating and merging into Zhou Ming's body.
In Zhou Ming's mind, phrases of incantations and cultivation methods resonated, and a profound, mysterious sensation formed in his mind, instantly spreading out.
Naturally, Zhou Ming understood how to Cultivate and activate this "Soul Devouring Refining Scripture."
It was like when he was a child learning to ride a bicycle; one day he suddenly knew how, and from then on, he rode smoothly, making it an instinctive reaction, like breathing.
The beam of light suddenly vanished, and Zhou Ming landed back on the ground, yet he wasn't overjoyed by this enhancement; instead, he frowned slightly.
The "Soul Devouring Refining Scripture" was a thorough Demonic Technique, a naked Dao of plunder!
It is widely known that while Demonic Techniques have the advantage of quick results and great power, they generally also come with side effects.
When activating the Cultivation Technique to Devour Souls, the memories and emotions of the devoured Souls would also merge with one's own Soul, causing memory conflicts, emotional confusion, and ultimately mental chaos, leading to complete madness.
How high was the chance of going mad? Ninety-nine percent! Almost all beings who Cultivated this Demonic Technique eventually went mad.
Countless personalities would arise and die at any moment, unable to even distinguish who they were. What good was such an existence, no matter how powerful?
When Zhou Ming learned this Cultivation Technique, he also became aware of its drawbacks, hence his frown.
"I'll look for a solution to the problem later."
Thinking this, Zhou Ming continued to look at his subsequent gains.
Besides one Nine Stars lottery qualification, there were also two special rewards for killing Ultimate Mutants.