Forest of Bones (1)
Translator/Editor: Mr Voltaire
Before, Ling Chen had sold large amounts of elementary strength crystals to lease a prime area in the Azure Dragon City, but still had hundreds of thousands of gold left over. Adding on the Tiger Heart Cores that he sold, he should have millions of gold.
However, the amount of gold he had was displayed as a big, round…. 0.
Ling Chen was furious. He wished that he was able to sprout a pair of wings, so that he could catch the Lucky Cat then cut it up and boil it… there was only one possibility for losing his gold. The single possibility was that the Lucky Cat had used its skill "Lucky Hand" to steal all of his money!
After being hit by the explosion from the Berserk Pineapple, he had been stunned for 10 seconds. In the s.p.a.ce of 10 seconds, the Lucky Cat definitely had enough time to casually walk by from his side, as well as take away all of his gold.
However, in the midst of his fury, he also felt a bit relieved. If the Lucky Cat had chosen to use [True Lucky Hand] instead of [Lucky Hand], then… he would not have anything left! Not only would he have 0 gold, but all of his items would have been taken away. The description of the [True Lucky Hand] stated that it could take away everything on the target"s body, maybe that even included weapons and equipment!
Having experienced this skill, a wave of fear washed over Ling Chen. Just having his gold stolen almost caused Ling Chen to explode from anger; if all of his items and equipment had been stolen… it would drive him crazy! Perhaps this would be even more cruel than killing a person until they were at LV0 again.
Seeing his amount of gold being at "0" again, Ling Chen could not help but think that if he had this move, Lucky Hand, even if he was at LV0, any person would tread carefully around him. Lucky Hand was definitely the most terrifying and cruel skill he had ever seen in his entire life.
However, this was only something he could dream about.
The Lucky Cat had been digging at something before, so it should have been some kind of ore or metal. However, when Ling Chen looked at Xiao Hui, he saw that Xiao Hui was wagging his tail with a nonchalant look on his face. This relaxed behaviour from Xiao Hui clearly indicated that there were no treasures or dangers around. Regardless, Ling Chen stubbornly walked forwards to have a look. What he saw was a large, empty hole.
Ling Chen raised his head and wordless shouted in his mind, "You d.a.m.n Lucky Cat! You better pray that I don"t meet you again!"
Ling Chen cursed the Lucky Cat in his mind, then wandered around in the cave to see if there was anything left. After coming out, he walked along the mountain path, where he found a second Red Crystal Gra.s.s. Ling Chen concluded that the Red Crystal Gra.s.s primarily grew close to mountains or other rocky areas. As he followed the mountain path, countless wild monsters appeared, but were all slain by Xi Ling. After another 10 minutes, he finally found a third Red Crystal Gra.s.s.
"Ding… you have successfully collected three "Red Crystal Gra.s.s", and have completed [Collect Red Crystal Gra.s.s] Quest. You can now advance to the Mayor"s residence to collect your reward."
"Finally done!" Having collected the third Red Crystal Gra.s.s, Ling Chen took out a Teleport Scroll and returned to Azure Dragon City. He was not too interested in the rewards of this Quest. After all, Silver equipment meant almost nothing to him who had two Celestial grade equipment, and the 80SP was simply insignificant to his SP requirements of thousands or tens of thousands of SP. The only reason he had even bothered to complete this Quest was so he could proceed on to the next two Quests.
Ling Chen arrived at the Mayor"s residence and gave the three Red Crystal Gra.s.s to the guards.
"Ding… you have successfully completed the Quest [Collect Red Crystal Gra.s.s], Rewards: [Starry Robe], SP+80, Fame+80. You can attempt this Quest two more times."
[Starry Robe]: Type: Upper Garment, Grade: Silver, Equipment Requirements: Any Magic-related profession LV15 or above. A robe that was blessed by the Fairies and is embroidered with sparkling stars. Attributes: Defense+15, All Magic Resistance +5%, Spirit+7, Const.i.tution+4, restores 1 mana every second.
The reward of the second Quest was a Silver grade Magician Robe. Because it could be used by any "Magic-related profession", Shui Ruo would be able to use it as soon as she reached LV15. Ling Chen was just about to use his communication device to ask Shui Ruo if they had completed the Ogre Extermination Quest a second time, but decided against it. It was possible that they were completely focused at the moment, and him calling them could distract them.
"In that case, might as well keep the ball rolling and go see what the Forest of Bones is hiding."
Ling Chen opened the Quest Page. The Forest of Bones quest directly transported the challengers to the Quest location. After looking through the details a few times, Ling Chen decided to directly go there.
The Forest of Bones was towards the South-East of the Azure Dragon City, and was very close to the sea. After being enveloped in a white light, Ling Chen appeared in the Forest of Bones. Before he was even able to have a good look at his surroundings, a dark and evil air swept towards him.
This miasma was comparable to that of the Ghastly Grounds, that he had just recently been to!
This was the entrance of the Forest of Bones. Looking around, although this was a "Forest", Ling Chen could not see any gra.s.ses, only rocks. There was not a trace of life in this Forest of Bones. All that could be seen was literally a forest of white bones!
Some of the bones were lying horizontal on the ground, some were upright and some were slanted. Some were intact, some were shattered. Some were even ten or so metres long… the ground was completely covered with bones as far as the eye could see.
Ling Chen was momentarily shocked. If all of these white bones were real, then how many creatures had died in order to create this horrendous Forest of Bones? Moreover, those bones that were ten or so metres long- what sort of creature did they come from? At least, they definitely were not human bones.
Ling Chen knew that he definitely was not the only player here. When he had arrived, there were already many players who were standing at the entrance. The reason was because players could be directly teleported to the site of the Quest, rather than walking to the location like in the second Quest. As such, there were many players crowded around the entrance, but with very few people brave enough to enter.
"The Skyfall Dynasty sent fifty elite twelve-man teams in, but not a single one could last more than 10 minutes!"
"Inside, there are many different types of Skeleton monsters… they"re all at least LV20! There are white bones everywhere inside, so it"s very easy to be ambushed by the skeleton monsters. This Quest definitely can"t be completed by any player of the current stage of the game."
"Nonsense! Since this Quest appeared, it"s definitely possible to clear! Don"t forget, all you have to do is reach the heart of the forest to complete the Quest, and you don"t have to kill anything- if you see anything, just run!"
"… Holy s.h.i.t!! The three elite teams from the Yan Huang Alliance have also failed!"
"……"
The entrance to the Forest of Bones was unceasingly erupting with new information. Every player could only attempt the Quest three times, and the death penalties of losing a level still applied if one died in the Quest. However, the Forest of Bones Quest was different to the first two Quests- as soon as a player completed this Quest, it would be closed to all other players. Even if another player reached the heart of the forest after the Quest was completed, they would not receive the rewards for the Quest. As such, players were all worried that the Quest would be completed by someone else first, closing the Quest off to them.
However, up until now, the mighty teams of both the Yan Huang Alliance and Skyfall Dynasty were unable to even last for 10 minutes. Let alone the centre region, they were not even able to pa.s.s through the outer regions.
As such, the number of players who were brave enough to enter grew smaller and smaller. However, there were still many players struggling to decide whether they should enter or not.
Inside, there were many skeleton monsters, and were all LV20 or above… however, with Xi Ling present, Ling Chen could handle LV30 monsters easily, let alone LV20 monsters. He did not waste any time, and directly walked in, despite the many curious stares.
"What"s going on? Did that guy just enter by himself? Could he be attempting this Quest by himself?"
"What a joke. He"s obviously going to die."
Ling Chen entering by himself caused many players to speak in condescension and derision. However, none of the people knew… the person who just entered was the player whose name had resounded across the whole world, Ling Tian!
"Ding… you have entered the dangerous region [Forest of Bones]."
Although it was still day time, the dark miasma in the forest made it seem extremely gloomy and oppressive. Gusts of freezing cold wind occasionally blew past. The wind smelt of rotten flesh, and carried the sound of ghostly and bloodcurdling cries.
The Forest of Bones was entirely constructed from bones; even the trees were shaped out of bones! Looking forwards, there was nothing but bones, white bones. The ground was covered so thoroughly that there was not even a hint of green or yellow on the ground, and even the sky looked white from the light reflected from all of the white bones.
The atmosphere in this place made Ling Chen feel extremely uncomfortable. He called out Xi Ling and Xiao Hui, and gripped the Soaring Cloud spear and Zephyr Blade in his hands, then slowly walked forwards.
Ling Chen knew that his capabilities were far superior to other players, and he even had Xi Ling"s terrifying strength. As such, although the environment was quite horrifying, it was in the end just a challenge for normal players, so it should not be too hard for him.
What he did not expect… was that what he was about to face was the cruellest and most challenging battle he had faced since he had entered the Mystic Moon world.
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