The Hidden Place in the Forest

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Translator/Editor: Mr Voltaire

Keeping Shui Ruo by his side was almost a natural action for Ling Chen. This was so in the real world, and in the virtual world, he was determined to continue keeping her safe. Deep in his heart, he also wanted to be able to spend more time with her. Ever since Ling Shui Ruo was diagnosed with the Isrock Disease, it had been an extremely long time since he was able to walk and have fun with her while holding her hands.

“Big brother, then I’ll stay with big sister Meng Xin and them. I can’t always rely on big brother.” After being blocked by Xiao Qi, Ling Shui Ruo thought for a while and gave a slightly surprising answer… Indeed, after Ling Chen left, they would only have five people left, whereas this Quest was recommended for twelve people to complete together. Even if Mu Bing Yao was present, it would still be difficult for them to complete the Quest. However, with Ling Shui Ruo’s Fairy Priest class and its extremely powerful healing and supporting abilities, they would not be too worried.

Five people with two Hidden Professions. This team setup was something that would shock most people out of their minds.

Although he was still quite unwilling, since Shui Ruo had made up her mind, Ling Chen could not bring himself to refuse. He smiled and said, “Alright then. Meng Xin, Bing Yao, Qi Qi, Su Su, please take care of Ruo Ruo. I don’t want to see her hurt in any way… if you run into any trouble, make sure you let me know immediately.”

“Uh huh, don’t worry! Ruo Ruo’s so cute, we definitely won’t let her come to any harm… moreover, it’s not us protecting Ruo Ruo, it’s Ruo Ruo protecting us.” With Ling Chen’s approval, Xiao Qi held Shui Ruo’s hand, and started laughing happily.

“Don’t worry, we will definitely take care of her. Indeed, if it was just us four without Shui Ruo, even with big sister Bing Yao, this Quest would still be incredibly difficult.” Yun Meng Xin said.

Only Mu Bing Yao knew how important Ling Chen’s seemingly gentle sentence “Please take care of Ruo Ruo. I don’t want to see her hurt in any way” was. As such, her main mission was not to kill Ogres, but rather to protect Ling Shui Ruo. With her abilities, killing 200 Ogres without being hit was not too difficult, but it would definitely take over an hour. Doing this quest solo was simply impossible. However, with Meng Xin and the others, killing Ogres would definitely take less time, but she would also have to look out for them.

“In that case, I’ll be going first. I’m going to go to the next Quest.” Ling Chen said as he took out a Teleport Scroll.

Ling Chen would be attempting the next Quest by himself, but none of the girls felt that there was anything dangerous about that. With Xi Ling’s power, no Quest would be too difficult for him.

As Ling Chen left, Ling Shui Ruo clasped together her hands, and said in her heart, “Do your best, big brother… I’ll work hard as well.”

The Azure Dragon City Square was still as noisy as ever, but was not as simple as it was before. Now, there were many large guilds advertising, with the Square filled with voices of guild members recruiting more people. The second Quest required one to advance to the Forest Region. This Quest did not directly teleport the players to the location, and instead required players to walk there by themselves. Thus, the first challenge of the Quest was to safely pass through the Plains Region in order to arrive at the Forest Region.

However, this was not a challenge to Ling Chen at all. Back when he was heading to Lonely Spirit Ridge, he had already passed through the Plains Region and the Forest Region. He had also bought all of the Teleport Scrolls to each of the small towns along the way, one of which was right next to the Forest Region. As such, he could directly teleport to the edge of the Forest Region.

After finding the Teleport Scroll, he shattered it in his hands. A white light enveloped him, and Ling Chen appeared in the town beside the Forest Region. He restocked on his potions and then directly headed towards the Forest Region. He was not too interested in the first two of the Four Mega Quests, but was quite interested in the last two… especially the one called “Moon God Ruins”.

The monsters in the Forest Region were all vicious beasts, and most were mutants. They were all above LV25, so the most players of the current stage could do was run. This Quest was completely different to the first Quest- the first Quest required players to search for and kill Ogres; this Quest required players to avoid monsters in order not to be killed. Furthermore, this Quest did not have a time limit. If a player found three Red Crystal Grass, they would be able to complete the Quest; if they could collect nine, then it would be counted as three completions of the Quest.

Back then, when Ling Chen passed through here, he did so at his fastest speed, doing his best to avoid all monsters. As such, he did not notice any Red Crystal Grass, so after entering the Forest Region, he did not have any idea where he could find any.

Apart from the sounds of birds, there were no other noises in the Forest Region, nor were there any other players. There were not any other players who would be able to directly enter the Forest Region like him. Even if other players completed the first Quest as fast as possible and headed over immediately, it would still take them a long time to reach the Forest Region.

Red Crystal Grass… from the name, it seemed fair to infer that it would be a red plant, and have the visual effects of a crystal. Ling Chen walked around slowly, looking around in his surroundings carefully. There were countless weeds and grasses growing in the Forest Region, most of which were green or yellow. After walking for more than half an hour, Ling Chen still had not found a single red and crystal-like plant. Moreover, wild beasts often burst out of the thickets. Although it was quite time consuming for Ling Chen to personally kill these LV25+ monsters, the same could not be said for Xi Ling. If she saw one, she would destroy one; if she saw a group, she would destroy a group. As such, Ling Chen did not have any problems with monsters along the way. He did not even blink when large groups of monsters jumped out… because with Xi Ling present, the monsters were jumping to their deaths.

What was going on? Another half an hour went by, but Ling Chen still had not found a single Red Crystal Grass. This Quest was open to all players, and every group of players had to find at least three Red Crystal Grass. Given the size of the China Region player base, there should be an abundance of Red Crystal Grass. Otherwise, how would players be able to complete this Quest? However, despite being the first player to arrive, spending so much time looking, as well as killing so many monsters, Ling Chen had yet to find a single one!

“Big brother!! We succeeded! Us five people, we completed this Quest by ourselves!!”

Ling Chen was about to continue searching when Shui Ruo’s excited voice burst out through Ling Chen’s communication deice. Hearing Shui Ruo’s voice, Ling Chen’s frustration in not being able to find the Red Crystal Grass immediately vanished. With Mu Bing Yao’s strength, as long as she had enough time, even completing the Quest by herself was possible. Adding on Meng Xin with her two Gold grade weapons and Hidden Profession and Shui Ruo’s Fairy Priest class, the five people clearing the Ogre extermination was not unexpected.

“Heheh! Big brother Ling Tian, we’re pretty amazing right? Even if we don’t have you with us, we still passed it!” This was Xiao Qi’s voice. Ling Chen could almost imagine her delighted smile.

“Luckily we had Ruo Ruo. If we didn’t have Ruo Ruo, we really would have been in trouble.” This was Yun Meng Xin’s voice.

“Five people clearing a Quest recommended for twelve people is quite impressive.” Ling Chen said as he smiled, “In that case, do you guys want to come to the Forest Region to do the second Quest?”

“Of course not! We’re going to do this Quest again! Just then it was so exciting, so thrilling, so dangerous! We’ve got to do it again!”

“Agreed!”

Ling Chen: “…….”

The five girls unanimously decided to do the Ogre Extermination Quest again. What they wanted was not the two Copper equips, but rather the thrill and feeling of accomplishment of facing a challenging Quest as a team. After talking, the girls went to the Marketplace to buy items, leaving Ling Chen to continue on his search for the Red Crystal Grass. Maybe it was because his spirits had been lifted, causing him to be more attentive, but after walking for a few steps, a red sparkle flashed into his eyes.

That was…

Ling Chen immediately walked over. This was close to the Northern border of the Forest Region. If he continued walking, he would no longer be in the Forest, but rather in the Mountain region. There were many plants growing on the mountains, and at the bottom, there was a sparkle of red.

Squatting down in front of the plant giving off a weak red glow, Ling Chen pushed aside the other grasses and weeds around it.

[Red Crystal Grass]: A ‘warm’ type plant, with a stem that is crystal red. It can be directly eaten. After being consumed, it can recover some life force of the consumer.

This was it!

Ling Chen immediately reached out with his hands and picked up the Red Crystal Grass, putting it into his bag. He then looked around his surroundings, seeing if there were any more around him. At this moment, Xiao Hui, who had been walking behind him the entire time, gave a small bark, then raced towards the Mountain.

Every time Xiao Hui acted weirdly, it signified that he found something special. Ling Chen immediately followed Xiao Hui. Xiao Hui stopped in front of a mass of vines on the mountain, and barked a few times at the vines. He then used his claws to claw at the vines.

Ling Chen immediately understood. He walked forwards, pulled out the Zephyr Blade and used a “Ling Tian Slash” towards the vines.

Bam!

A muffled sound reverberated as Ling Chen’s Zephyr Blade was knocked out of his hands by the recoil. However, the vines of this ageless, solid tree were undamaged. Ling Chen realised that unless the weapon contained the ‘destruction element’, no amount of physical attack damage would be able to destroy the vines. He put away the Zephyr Blade, walked a few metres back and said in a low voice, “Xi Ling, burn these vines, but take care not to damage the surroundings.”

Xi Ling complied, flying high into the air and letting out a piercing cry. As her wings began to flap, a ray of red light began to descend, and shot towards the vines Ling Chen was trying to cut like a fiery arrow.

Whoosh… the blistering heat waves rolled past Ling Chen. Although he was ten or so metres away, the scalding heat still caused him to feel some pain. The red line shot into the vines, and exploded into a ball of fiery red light. Through the dark smoke, a two-metre high cave entrance appeared on the side of the mountain. The mouth of the cave was a perfect circle. Once the entrance to the cave had been revealed, the flames began to die down. What was remarkable was that outside of the circular entrance, nothing had been damaged in the slightest… after the mouth of the cave was revealed, nothing could be seen inside the cave except darkness.