"Boom, boom, boom..."

    The roaring sound kept echoing, and to the unaware, it might have seemed like there was thunder at his house.

    But in fact, Xu Nian was practicing his hammer technique, having mastered fifty percent of the power of the first style, Collapse Thunder.

    The terrifying roar just now was the sound of his iron hammer striking the air.

    If someone were to visit Xu Nian''s courtyard, they would surely discover that it had become dotted with one pit after another.

    Each of those pits, created by his hammer strikes, was half a meter deep.

    Twenty days had passed since Xu Nian joined the Battle Mansion, and during these twenty days, he had been relentlessly practicing his hammer technique behind closed doors.

    However, the later stages of the Three-Forging Hammer technique proved to be progressively more difficult to master, and his progress was not as rapid as he had anticipated.

    Aside from practicing the hammer technique, Xu Nian had also committed to memory the rules of the Battle Mansion, and he had finally come to clearly understand what the members needed to do, as well as the rules and benefits of promoting one''s star level.

    Members of the Battle Mansion were ranked from one to nine stars, and the perks each star level member could enjoy varied.

    For example, one-star members were required to purchase combat skills or Gang Skills at full price from the Battle Mansion.

    Whereas two-star members could enjoy a ten percent discount, three-star members an twenty percent discount, and so on, to the point where nine-star members could enjoy a ninety percent discount.

    This discount should not be underestimated, knowing that a Heavenly Rank Technique sold outside for one million Gold Coins; a one-star member would need to pay a full million, while a nine-star member would only have to pay one hundred thousand.

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    The difference was a full nine hundred thousand, which speaks volumes about the disparity.

    Secondly, some high-level items were only available for purchase to members of certain star levels.

    For instance, exotic metals required a minimum of four stars or above to purchase, and these metals were valued at ten million Gold Coins.

    Therefore, the more precious the item being bought, the greater the benefits enjoyed by those of a higher star level.

    As for how to promote one''s star level, it was through completing missions.

    The Battle Mansion would continuously offer a variety of missions, categorized into nine levels, from one to nine stars.

    By completing a two-star mission, one could be promoted to two-star level, complete a three-star mission, and the student''s level would be raised to three-star, and so forth.

    Although he was unsure of the woman''s status in the Battle Mansion, he was certain that her position there was by no means low.

    "I''m here to select a task," stated Xu Nian straightforwardly.

    "Here, everything has been prepared for you already," responded the white-dressed woman with a smile and directly tossed a small notebook to Xu Nian.

    Xu Nian didn''t speak, merely glancing over the contents of the notebook.

    The small notebook had rows upon rows of characters, each line representing a task. Some lines were crossed out, indicating that those tasks had already been carried out by others.

    Xu Nian noticed that all the tasks listed were One-star tasks.

    He guessed that the tasks of other Star Levels were probably in other notebooks, but the woman in white hadn''t taken them out, probably thinking he didn''t need them.

    Although curious, Xu Nian didn''t ask for them.

    After all, it was better to be safe on his first mission.

    So, Xu Nian began to carefully look at the tasks in the notebook, but the tasks listed therein shocked him to the core.

    One, slay the demon Zhang Yu, with Two-star Battle Sect strength, once killed three Two-Star Battle Sect members, charged with the massacre of the Luo Family in Wind City and the violation of women, level One-star, reward ten thousand gold coins.

    Two, annihilate Gentle Wind Village, the village leader with Two-star Body Sect strength, commanding three One-star Battle Sect members, charged with robbery, murder, and village slaughter, level One-star, reward thirty thousand gold coins.

    Three, slay the Demon Beast Chasing Wind Bloodthirsty Leopard, a Three-star Silver Moon Level Demon Beast with a Divine Beast Bloodline from an ancient Screaming Wind Divine Leopard, located deep within the Demon Beast Forest, level One-star, reward fifty thousand gold coins.

    ...

    The more Xu Nian looked at these tasks, the more alarmed he grew.

    These tasks were more twisted one after the other. Take, for example, the Chasing Wind Bloodthirsty Leopard: a Demon Beast of Three-star Divine Beast Bloodline caliber. Its unleashed power was even stronger than a Four-star Peak Level Body Sect member. Normally, only Battle Sect members of the Five-star Level would dare to fight it head-on.

    He had anticipated these tasks to be dreadful, yet they turned out to be even more horrific than he had imagined.

    "Stunned, aren''t you? Who told you to come so late? All the simpler tasks have been picked clean by others; what''s left are the One-star tasks with considerably higher difficulty," said the white-dressed woman, seeing Xu Nian''s astonished expression, teasingly.

    Xu Nian gave a wry smile. So there was such a trick to it?

    "This one then!" Xu Nian said, pointing to the last task in the small notebook.

    The white-dressed woman glanced at the task Xu Nian was pointing at; her smile suddenly froze. She looked at Xu Nian seriously and said, "Are you sure you want to choose this task? I suggest you pick another one, or you''ll die a horrible death."No?v(el)B\\jnn