ACSP: Chapter 10: Village of the Bloody Mist, Secret Realm BOSS, Young Zabuza!
Listening to Li Yanran's explanation, Jiang Chen finally realized that many people here were ordinary professionals who had no contracted characters.
To put it bluntly, these people were low-level laborers hired by the City Lord's Mansion.
Their talent levels were very low, and they had no power background, so they came here to help the City Lord's Mansion farm resources in the secret realm.
And the City Lord's Mansion would provide them with a certain amount of remuneration based on the amount of resources they obtained.
Of course, if these people exceeded level 20 while farming the secret realm, they would lose this job.
"Don't say that our City Lord's Mansion is exploiting them. At the very least, our working hours here are 8 hours a day, and there is one day of rest a week. Next time, go and see the situation in other families, and you will know. The low-level professionals working there don't even have the most basic life security; they have to farm the secret realm for more than 15 hours a day, and they work all year round without breaks."
Li Yanran walked in front and continued speaking. At the same time, she also wanted to take this opportunity to promote the humane management of their City Lord's Mansion to Jiang Chen.
Looking at those exhausted low-level professionals, Jiang Chen couldn't help but recall his life before transmigrating.
Once, he was also an 'ox' struggling at the bottom of society.
Later, due to overwork, he died suddenly while cooking instant noodles at home, which led to his transmigration into this world.
"Li Yanran, what took you two so long?"
After entering the valley, Jiang Chen saw a girl with two bun-style pigtails running toward them.
Two men about their age followed behind her.
One was over two meters tall, his body filled with solid muscle; just standing there, he gave off a strong sense of pressure.
The other person wore a hood, making it impossible to see his face.
These three should be the ones representing the City Lord's Mansion in the secret realm competition.
On the way here, Jiang Chen had heard Li Yanran mention them.
"Jiang Chen, let me introduce you. This is my friend Wang Shanshan, who is also a member of the secret realm team. Her contract partner is a Chunin named Tenten, who specializes in using hidden weapons."
Li Yanran walked up to the girl with the buns, and after greeting her, she turned to introduce Jiang Chen.
"This big guy is Lin Ye. His contract partner is also a Chunin named Akimichi Choji, who specializes in Taijutsu."
"And this fellow is Yuan Danqing. His contract partner is Inuzuka Kiba, who is also a Chunin."
After listening to Li Yanran's introduction, Jiang Chen couldn't help but be startled.
Good heavens.
The City Lord's Mansion has some decent luck.
The three newcomers they found were actually all Contractors of the Konoha 12.
During the Fourth Ninja World War, although Akimichi Choji, Tenten, and Inuzuka Kiba were all ranked as Chunin, their strength had definitely reached the level of a Jonin.
Adding in Kurenai Yuhi, whom Li Yanran contracted with...
This team was essentially composed entirely of Jonin-level or higher Contractors.
The three of them nodded and smiled at Jiang Chen, with no hint of contempt in their eyes.
Because last night, City Lord Li Hongfei had already told them that the contract partner Jiang Chen possessed was very likely a hidden character.
After getting to know each other, the group arrived together at the entrance of the [Village of the Bloody Mist] secret realm.
The entrance to this secret realm was a vortex shaped like a ball of light, about a meter high.
Near the light ball, an ancient stone tablet stood tall.
A total of three lines of information were engraved on the stone tablet:
[Secret Realm Difficulty (Easy): Speedrun Team — Captain Liu Lei! (Time: 1 hour 24 minutes)]
[Secret Realm Difficulty (Hard): Speedrun Team — Captain Liu Lei! (Time: 2 hours 43 minutes)]
[Secret Realm Difficulty (Hell): Speedrun Team — None!]
It seemed that Captain Liu Lei had some skill; of the three secret realm records, two actually bore his name!
At this point, Li Yanran spoke up again: "The setting of this novice secret realm is a bloody killing field. Once inside, as long as you kill all the enemies within the killing field, you can complete the secret realm mission. That Captain Liu Lei has a special Ninjutsu called Hiding in Camouflage Technique, which allows him to hide his presence. In this secret realm, he's like a fish in water, which is why he's always been the record holder here."
So that was it.
Jiang Chen understood, but one thing still puzzled him: "Then why doesn't he clear the final difficulty?"
Li Yanran said: "Because in that difficulty, a guy named Zabuza Momochi appears. He is extremely powerful. All the teams that went to challenge it before failed, and Captain Liu Lei was no exception."
Zabuza Momochi, huh?
That guy did indeed participate in the Ninja graduation exam of the Village of the Bloody Mist back when he was in the Hidden Mist Village.
Although his strength hadn't reached the level of a Jonin at that time,
He was still much more powerful than an average Chunin.
The entry requirement for the novice secret realm is for newcomers below level 20.
Facing the Zabuza Momochi of that period would certainly be difficult to handle.
Wang Shanshan stood by the stone tablet and reminded them: "The City Lord asked us to run the novice secret realm a few times first to improve our team synergy.
However, Jiang Chen's current level has already reached level 20, so he needs to keep an eye on his experience points; he can't exceed the limit."
Hearing this, Li Yanran also gave Jiang Chen a word of caution.
Jiang Chen nodded, indicating there was no problem.
Since he had already agreed to Li Hongfei to represent the City Lord's Mansion in that novice secret realm competition, he would definitely keep an eye on his level.
Moreover, the experience points he needed to level up were double those of others.
How much experience could a few novice secret realms possibly provide?
Perhaps farming experience here for a week wouldn't even be enough to level up.
"Alright, let's not waste time. Let's enter the dungeon first. This is everyone's first time working together, so let's cooperate well in a bit."
Li Yanran rubbed her hands together eagerly and led Jiang Chen and the other four into the secret realm entrance.
The difficulty of the secret realm is chosen by the captain.
Li Yanran was the captain, and considering it was her first time running the secret realm, she chose the [Easy] difficulty.
...
[Secret Realm Mission: Only the last person alive is qualified to become a powerhouse (Currently 50 survivors)]
After entering the secret realm, a line of mission information appeared before Jiang Chen's eyes.
Jiang Chen looked around.
He found himself in a desolate clearing.
Many children wearing masks stood around.
These children all held weapons in their hands.
They were either in small groups of two or three, or alone, all wary of each other.
A thick aura of slaughter began to spread rapidly.
Suddenly.
A heavy voice came from outside the field: "The slaughter begins. Please strive to survive."
As the words fell,
Everyone started moving.
They began to slaughter one another.
Blades drew blood, and fists struck flesh.
The sound of clashing metal rose and fell.
The once quiet wasteland instantly turned into a blood-scented Shura field.
Although Li Yanran and the others were mentally prepared, they were still startled by the bloody scene.
And while they were momentarily dazed,
A Kirigakure Ninja had already silently approached Li Yanran's side.
A Kunai was thrust out rapidly, aimed straight at Li Yanran's face. Li Yanran tried to pull away after reacting, but it was already too late.
At this critical moment,
The Kunai was suddenly stopped by another hand.
Then.
A long sword streaked through the air with the speed of lightning, directly piercing the Kirigakure Ninja's neck.
Thick blood instantly splashed all over Li Yanran's face.
By the time Li Yanran came to her senses,
Jiang Chen had already picked up the Kirigakure Ninja's corpse and tossed it to the ground.