Dan entered the Valley, but as an insurance, he left his doppelganger outside and prepared his weapons. Fortunately, Stealth had the additional effect of completely erasing his footsteps or else, in this muddy terrain, he would"ve left some clearly audible noise everytime he stepped.
The moonlight served as the illumination inside the Thousand Deaths Valley. All sorts of noises from different creatures constantly disturbed the tranquility of the Valley. However, the eerie air that enveloped it, along with the thick mist which reduced visibility to anyone that entered its vicinity, spelled doom for any average adventurer.
Under the veil of the night, the valley"s creepiness surged into higher heights. But Dan was calm, he had his Stealth with him and the System, "System, activate the mini-map function and mark anything that could potentially threaten me, also, mark any Noxius Mushrooms that you could find," Dan instructed and a series of system notifications manifested along with a square box that floated on his peripheral vision.
"What in the actual heavens is this?" Dan mumbled under his breath, his expression indicated his shock when he saw the innumerable red dots that dotted the minimap, smiling wryly, he thought, "So that"s the reason why this place is called the Thousand Deaths Valley."
Glancing at the remaining time of his Stealth, he sped deeper inside the valley as more evidence regarding the danger within the Valley popped out around him. From a Winged Tiger to a Snake that could move in the speed of sound, Dan knew that once he was discovered, his poor life would surely be lost.
Venturing deeper, Dan found a blue dot in the minimap that indicated the location of a Noxius Mushroom, moving towards it, Dan"s expression flickered when he realized that the Noxius Mushroom was being protected by a gigantic snake, instructing the System, information about the snake appeared in the air before him,
[Name: Night Stalker Snake]
[Cultivation: Peak of Organ Tempering Realm]
[Description: A highly dangerous venomous snake, its senses are heightened in the night and it would pretend to be asleep to lure potential predators and attack them while they"re off guard.]
Dan hissed under his breath, fortunately, he didn"t approach the vicinity of the snake or else he might"ve been caught by its web. Crouching down, while he was under Stealth, he took a small pebble from the ground and threw it at the snake.
At first, the snake didn"t react but when the pebble was about to hit its body, its head whipped out and struck the pebble, turning it into dust. Its eyes flashed in a crimson light as it scanned around. Dan leaked a small smile when he found that the snake disregarded his presence.
He approached with caution, his breath halted and his movements, slow to the extreme. Stretching his hands towards the flower, he carefully lifted it from the ground and turned around as he heaved a sigh of relief. In the presence of a powerful predatory beast, Dan didn"t dare to be complacent and immediately retreated.
After five minutes of walking away, a shrill cry which shook his body emerged from the location of the snake. Scanning with the System, Dan found that the Night Stalker Snake became enraged when it realized that the flower that it protected, suddenly disappeared.
Trees toppled and the earth itself trembled as Dan hastened its pace. Everything inside the valley experienced an upheaval under the snake"s anger. Numerous beasts suffered and endlessly cursed the one who caused such a ruckus. Suddenly, just as Dan retreated, the minimap projected on his peripheral vision had a golden question mark indicated inside a place where the reddest dots concentrated.
Dan"s expression flickered his knowledge back at his previous life indicated that this golden question mark should contain something special. But witnessing the innumerable dots that encircled the golden question mark, Dan became hesitant.
The time remaining on his Stealth was still about four minutes, enough for him to check the area out and retreat. Gritting his teeth, he walked towards the direction of the golden question mark and there, he found that the mark was inside a deep cave whose entrance incessantly spewed cold air which made him s.h.i.+ver in terror.
But in the face of potential benefits, Dan knew that he had to risk or he wouldn"t obtain anything. Hardening his resolve, he entered the cave with his breathing, suppressed to the minimum.
The cave looked like a normal cave. But Dan knew that within this cave, myriads of dangers, lurked, dangers that could surely reap his life. Even under his Stealth, he couldn"t suppress the wild beating of his heart as he approached the location.
Suddenly, a gust of cold air swept through him followed by the voice of a young child that sang a song in a foreign language,
"Magtanim ay di biro, maghapong naka yuko, di naman naka tayo, di naman nakaupo..."
The innocent voice carried with it an attractive force which coerced Dan into heading deeper inside the cave. And when he realized what happened, he found himself standing before a barren land with a translucent young girl carefully planting some jet-black seeds.
Dan"s instincts screamed for him to get away from this place, but no matter how much his mind wanted to run, his body wouldn"t obey his instructions. He found it hard to breathe and his face, dotted with beaded sweats which drenched his clothes.
The young child noticed his presence as she turned around and stared, directly into his eyes. Her jet-black eyes shone in the light of the abyss itself and unbeknownst to him, tears started rolling down his eyes and so did the young child.
"Eh? What"s going on? Why I am crying?" He didn"t know why but he found a sense of familiarity with the young child as if she was someone that was precious to him, and he didn"t want anything in the world other than to embrace her and cry her eyes out.
The suppression on his body, suddenly disappeared but Dan didn"t understand why, but the fear inside his mind, disappeared, replaced with nothing but melancholy and sadness. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the young girl said, "This is not the right time, yet. Young master..." She mumbled in an ethereal and soft tone.
Dan"s tears uncontrollably streamed from his eyes towards his cheeks. Wiping his face, a strange expression leaked on his visage after he found out that he wasn"t manipulated by the young girl. It turned out that he was voluntarily crying, out of sadness and sorrow.
As for the reason why? He didn"t know, at least... Not for now...
After she spoke those words, she disregarded his presence and continued her singing. Dan focused his gaze on her wanting to imprint her figure and every detail that she had inside his mind. But at this time, a timely system notification that greatly astonished him surfaced.
[Main Quest Line Activated!]
[Main Quest I: Finding out One"s Roots]
[Quest Objective: Find information pertaining to your true origins.]
[Quest Reward: ???]