The system notification panels popping up one after another in front of him suddenly made Lin Mo's heart race.
His breathing became quicker.
"An S-rank hidden quest…"
"Upgraded to SS-rank?"
Normally speaking, this should have been an incredible stroke of luck.
After all, even an S-rank hidden quest was already priceless, an extremely rare quest that countless players in the Divine Oracle could only dream of encountering, and one that even the big spenders couldn't find no matter how much money they offered.
And SS-rank, that was the second-highest tier, surpassed only by the top-tier SSS-rank quests in the Divine Oracle.
Even in his previous life, there had been very few players worldwide who had come into contact with SS-rank hidden quests.
Because in the Divine Oracle, completing an S-rank hidden quest triggered a city-wide announcement.
Completing an SS-rank hidden quest triggered a nationwide announcement.
Completing an SSS-rank hidden quest triggered a worldwide announcement.
Therefore, Lin Mo remembered very clearly.
At least before he died at the hands of the Tier 17 BOSS, Vampire Emperor·Ainogea, during the two years after the descent of Divine Oracle, the number of times an SS-rank quest announcement had been triggered throughout Dragon Nation had never exceeded three.
And originally, the S-rank hidden quest [Heart Knot] already included: Level +3, 20,000 gold coins, 8,000 reputation, one SS-rank skill book, one set of top-grade Tier 7 divine race equipment.
It was easy to imagine after being upgraded to SS-rank, the rewards for [Heart Knot] would definitely far exceed those of an S-rank quest.
Yet at this moment, Lin Mo couldn't feel happy at all.
Because the difficulty of this quest... was simply too outrageous.
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[Heart Knot] (Unique SS-Rank Hidden Quest)
Difficulty Rating: 15,880
Description: Divine Descent Seraph·Siya's heart knot has grown increasingly severe and has gradually reached the point of darkening. Please go to the core territory of the divine race, the Divine Kingdom, and completely resolve Divine Descent Seraph·Siya's heart knot...
Quest Rewards: Siya will be granted eternal life and establish a permanent master-servant contract with you; Level +5, Gold Coins +50,000, Reputation +30,000, SSS-rank Skill Book ×1, Divine Race S-rank Divine Artifact ×1, Divine Race Tier 8 Set Equipment ×1 (all eight pieces, Gold quality).
Failure Penalty: Siya dies permanently, and you are permanently placed on the divine race's blacklist (unable to join the divine race faction or use divine race equipment and skills)
Quest Time Limit: Before Divine Descent Seraph·Siya completely darkens (if the quest is not completed when Siya's darkening progress reaches 100%, the quest will be considered failed)
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The quest difficulty had risen from the original 9,880 points for an S-rank quest to 15,880 points, the rewards were certainly astonishing.
Level +3 had increased to Level +5!
20,000 gold coins had increased to 50,000!
8,000 reputation had increased to 30,000!
The SS-rank skill book had been upgraded to SSS-rank!
The Tier 7 set had been upgraded to a Tier 8 set!
And an additional divine race S-rank divine artifact had been added.
These rewards, they were simply too tempting.
Although the quest itself hadn't changed, and still required him to go to the Divine Kingdom to resolve Siya's heart knot.
The outrageous part was that the original thirty-day time limit had changed to before Divine Descent Seraph·Siya darkened completely.
And Lin Mo saw that Siya's current darkening progress was 10%.
According to the system's estimate, Siya would fall into 100% darkness within at most seven days.
In other words, the quest time limit had effectively been reduced from thirty days to seven.
And Lin Mo had only just reached Platinum V.
Based on the fastest rate of advancing one minor rank per day and one major rank every four days, he would need at least ten days to break through to King rank and thus meet the requirement to enter the Divine Kingdom.
Which meant that this quest was no longer a question of whether it was difficult or not.
Rather, within seven days, Lin Mo simply couldn't meet the hard requirement of breaking through his rank.
'Fuck...'
'Isn't this basically a guaranteed death situation?'
'How am I supposed to play this?'
'Why don't you just declare the quest failed right now, kill Siya, and have the divine race blacklist me while you're at it!'
Just as Lin Mo was baffled by the situation, another panel suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Ding~ Player, please note: The system has predicted that the probability of completing the SS-rank hidden quest·Heart Knot under your current conditions is 0%. The game balance mechanism has been automatically triggered, and an exclusive side quest for the SS-rank hidden quest·Heart Knot has been opened for you, God Creation!]
As soon as the system notification sounded, the polite words Lin Mo had been about to use to curse the game developers' entire families instantly went back down his throat.
'There is a way out? You should've said so earlier!'
"Sorry, Brother System. I was speaking a little too loudly just now!"
With that, Lin Mo excitedly opened the quest panel and checked the side quest the system had specifically opened for the SS-rank hidden quest [Heart Knot].
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[God Creation] (SS-Rank Hidden Quest·Heart Knot, Side Quest):
Quest Description: As the supreme race of the Divine Oracle, the divine race launches a God Creation program every year within the Continent of Divine Oracle. They establish divine altars and select heroes from the various races. Through the divine altar, they create gods for them, granting them divine race bloodlines and recruiting them as divine race disciples. Please obtain a quota to join the divine race faction through the divine altar (after becoming a divine race disciple, you may freely enter and leave any divine race territory, ignoring rank requirements)
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Seeing the content of this quest.
Lin Mo couldn't help feeling a sense of deja vu.
Based on his memories from his previous life, Lin Mo seemed to remember, "To ensure that their races never die out, every supreme race in the Divine Oracle has special power assessments and recruitment programs targeting the major ordinary and rare races of the Continent of Divine Oracle."
Such as the supreme race [Blood Race]'s "Night of the Vampires".
The supreme race [Undead]'s "Feast of Death".
The supreme race [Ghost Race]'s "Demonic Ghost Altar".
The supreme race [Angel Race]'s "Angels and Devils" and so on...
They didn't just target players, they also targeted members of all the major races in the Continent of Divine Oracle who had developed self-awareness after the descent of Divine Oracle.
As long as someone passed the assessment, they had a chance to join a supreme race faction.
This was the lifelong pursuit of all players, as well as ordinary and rare race members, in later generations.
And the divine race, one of the supreme races, had the assessment known as "God Creation".
This was one of the ways for players to obtain divine race bloodlines and join the divine race faction, one of the supreme races of the Divine Oracle.
But Lin Mo remembered that the supreme races' assessments were all located within the territories of Level 1 main cities, "Looks like this really is a side quest specifically opened for me."
The "God Creation" assessment, which originally could only be participated in from a Level 1 main city, had actually been brought to a Level 2 main city.
This showed just how high the status of an SS-rank hidden quest was.
"So, as long as I pass the God Creation assessment and become a member of the divine race faction, I'll be able to ignore the rank restriction and freely enter and leave divine race territories, including the Divine Kingdom. That makes sense."
Lin Mo thought for a moment, "Then I don't need to wait until I reach King rank. I just need to complete this assessment."
"By then, not only will I be able to enter the Divine Kingdom and complete the SS-rank hidden quest to resolve Siya's heart knot, I'll also be able to obtain a divine race bloodline and become a divine race disciple, laying the foundation for joining the divine race faction and becoming a member of the divine race faction in the future."
Just a moment ago, Lin Mo had been worried about how to complete the quest, the next moment, an increasingly unrestrained smile appeared on his face.
Once Lin Mo completed the Ghost Domain Conqueror class advancement quest, became the SSS-rank hidden class Ghost Monarch, and became a member of the ghost race faction.
Then, through this God Creation quest, he would become a member of the divine race faction as well.
Unprecedented!
A member of two supreme race factions.
Who wouldn't go crazy over that?
Turning his attention back to the SS-rank hidden quest [Heart Knot].
After the quest's rank was raised, the equipment reward had also increased from a Tier 7 set to a Tier 8 set.
Compared to the current Illusory World·Thunder set he was wearing, which was only Level 50 Tier 5.
Lin Mo could already sense: His moment to shine was about to arrive.