Blue Maple and White Cherry arrived somewhere they were very unfamiliar with.
Towering trees with thick canopies stretched into the skies everywhere, and their trunks were so thick that not even several people linking arms could wrap around them. The trees" leaves and branches were so dense that sunlight couldn"t s.h.i.+ne onto the bottom of the trees. However, the area beneath the shade was lit and blurry fluorescent light shone upon everything beneath the canopies.
“Where are we, Maple?” White Cherry surveyed her surroundings as she asked confusedly.
She was admiring the magnificent beauty of her surroundings at the same time. This place seemed like it couldn"t possibly exist on Earth in real life.
“This place belongs to an elven tribe. Their Ancient Tree of Life has withered, and these are seedlings germinated from the Ancient Tree of Life"s seeds. These trees have formed a miniature Elven Forest.” Blue Maple explained plainly like he had a deep understanding of this.
“Ah, I see. How do you know all this, Maple?” White Cherry was confused. She didn"t expect Blue Maple to be someone who knew a lot about things like these.
“I know this because of a quest,” answered Blue Maple casually.
Blue Maple could take somebody with him when he was teleporting with Heavenly Fire after his third cla.s.s advancement. However, there was no notification of his improved skill. The reason was because Blue Maple had to consume a lot of Heavenly Fire to teleport somebody along with him, and he could only cover a short distance.
Blue Maple was directly absorbing all the naturally burning flames this time. He didn"t deliberately try to control them, so he didn"t run into a situation where the fire would run wild, or where they became uncontrollable. However, if he didn"t care about the fire, they would continue burning until the entire patch of cherry trees were burned down.
The cherry trees by the creek burned for five minutes. Blue Maple couldn"t control those flames but directly consuming them was different. Blue Maple managed to teleport both White Cherry and himself out, and he sent them through a distance that would have taken them two days to cover.
The quest had a time limit of three days. Considering how long it would take for the journey to be completed, three days was very tight.
Blue Maple shared the quest with White Cherry afterwards. His quest for the Water of Life didn"t have a limit on the number of partic.i.p.ating players anyway. More accurately put, the young lady in the kimono was hoping more people could help her, except she couldn"t afford the rewards.
White Cherry quickly understood the quest"s entire process.
White Cherry grinned at Blue Maple like she had discovered some secret.
“Hey, Maple. What"s the reward for completing this quest?”
“There"s none. I found this quest"s contents interesting, so I took it.” Blue Maple"s face was emotionless like what he was saying was real.
“So proud.”
White Cherry giggled as she covered her mouth as even her eyes smiled beautifully.
Evidently, Blue Maple accepted this quest for free because he thought the young lady"s story was tragic. Blue Maple still chose to say instead that he found this quest interesting, so he didn"t need any reward in return.
“Tch. Let"s go. The clues only tell us that this place is a miniature Elven Forest, and elves can appear around here. We don"t have the elves" exact location. Furthermore, we have to gain their trust so that we can obtain the so-called Water of Life.”
Blue Maple knew that White Cherry saw right through him and said nothing more about the matter. He changed the topic and began talking of things related to the quest itself as he walked forward by himself.
White Cherry shook her head lightly as she followed behind.
White Cherry felt very exasperated about how Blue Maple always hid his true feelings so that others believed that he was the villain. Perhaps, Blue Maple was very used to that, but White Cherry still felt sorry for him.
She caught up with him and arrived by his side, and they continued walking side by side.
This scene was very similar to what had happened back then.
Blue Maple also slaughtered the Common Guild"s players, and they also left the scene together to complete a quest. The only difference was that previously, they were walking one ahead of the other, rather than walking side by side.
The last unknown was whether Blue Maple would leave White Cherry behind and leave by himself again.
The pair began their journey through this quest like they were “volunteers”. They were here early, so all they had was time. Blue Maple was lazy by nature and didn"t want to search for answers deliberately, while White Cherry was very happy to continue staying by Blue Maple"s side.
The reason was because she knew that Blue Maple would probably leave by himself again after finis.h.i.+ng this quest.
However, the system-generated quest had some key components that the system hadn"t sp.a.w.ned because Blue Maple and White Cherry were early. That was the reason why they couldn"t find the elves.
The two of them wandered aimlessly around the miniature Elven Forest like lost wanderers who were walking around in circles.
Inside the Chinese Rank 2 Main City, Kunyue City.
Two beautiful girls were sitting opposite each other beside a study table in the library.
They were Blue Snow and Silent Observer.
However, Blue Snow seemed a little melancholic as she stirred a cup of coffee in front of her carelessly. She hadn"t noticed that the coffee had gone cold because of all that stirring.
“What"s wrong, Snow? Why do you look so dejected? Were the cherry blossoms not pretty, or did someone do something to you?” Silent Observer asked like she was very concerned.
“Neither.” Blue Maple stopped stirring with her spoon.
“Oh? Then why do you look so dejected?”
Silent Observer smiled slyly as she spoke.
“Can it be… that you like the handsome boy, but somebody else got there first?”
“Clang!”
“No… no… no way! I… I don"t like anyone!”
Blue Snow stood up abruptly while she pushed the chair behind her, and she stammered with a flushed look on her face.
“Oh? Then why do you look so unhappy? You"ve just returned from seeing cherry blossoms.” Silent Observer continued probing as a faint smile appeared on her pretty face.
“I… uh… that… yes!” Blue Snow stammered unintelligibly like she had suddenly thought of something.
“A bad person destroyed the cherry trees, so I didn"t have a good time admiring the cherry blossoms. Yes, that"s it.” Blue Snow heaved a sigh of relief like she had found a valid reason.
“Ah, I see. I heard about that. I heard that there was a fellow who burned an entire patch of cherry trees in Gong Liang City, a j.a.panese city not far from where we are, the city that you visited. The local j.a.panese players are very upset about that.” Silent Observer pretended like she had finally understood what happened.
“Yes, that"s right. You"ve heard about that too. That was what happened.” Blue Snow felt a lot more relaxed when she heard Silent Observer"s words.
However, she quickly readjusted her chair and sat back down like she had a guilty conscience, and she sipped on her coffee that had already gone cold from the stirring.
“I wouldn"t have recommended you to Gong Liang City if I had known that. Haih… what a pity.” Silent Observer had a lamenting look on her face like she felt responsible for what happened to Blue Snow.
Silent Observer was the one who had suggested for Blue Snow to visit Gong Liang City. She noticed that Blue Snow"s mood wasn"t great recently, so she recommended for her to see the cherry blossoms so she could clear her head.
“Yes, that"s right.” Blue Snow kept her head down as she sipped on her coffee to mask her guilty conscience. She didn"t care that her coffee had already gone cold.
The corner of Silent Observer"s mouth curved into a mischievous smile as she watched Blue Snow"s behavior.
“Oh, yes. I heard that the bad guy burned the entire patch of cherry trees because he was furious that some players from the Common Guild had bullied his girlfriend, so he wanted revenge.”
“Pfft! Ahem, ahem, ahem! Ahem…”
“Ugh… Handkerchief! Tissue!”
Blue Snow immediately choked on her coffee, and she tried awkwardly to search for something to wipe her mouth with after coughing vigorously.
Silent Observer still had a smile on her face as she handed out a handkerchief that she already had in hand. She felt very satisfied with her little prank.
“Ugh…”
Blue Snow quickly took the handkerchief and started wiping her mouth.
Blue Snow glared at Silent Observer afterwards like she was blaming her for something.
“Ah, don"t look at me like that. I didn"t know you"d have such a big reaction.” Silent Observer had an innocent look on her face.
But she her expression immediately turned gossipy as she looked into Blue Snow"s eyes.
“Can it be that you"re crus.h.i.+ng on him? I heard that he is very handsome! Furthermore, his hair and his clothes are all blue, the color that you like. Yes, his flames are also blue!”
“Unh, unh, unh!”
Blue Snow covered her mouth with the handkerchief as she shook her head violently.
“That"s impossible! I am not crus.h.i.+ng on that guy!” Blue Snow"s face was flushed red as she took away the handkerchief while she continued disputing Silent Observer"s questions.
“Oh…” Silent Observer"s expression seemed like she had understood something.
“No… it"s not like that. I don"t know that guy.” Blue Snow was panicking, and she was blus.h.i.+ng so much that her face probably couldn"t get any redder.
“Oh. So, you do know him! When did you guys meet?” Silent Observer asked as she pretended to be surprised.
“No… uh… I… I"ve seen him a few times. But it"s not like what you"re thinking!” Blue Snow"s beautiful cheeks were already warming up from all the blood rus.h.i.+ng to her face.
Silent Observer said nothing more. Instead, she stared at Blue Snow like she was saying, “So, I was right.”
Blue Snow was still blus.h.i.+ng as she slumped down onto her chair with her head lowered and with nothing to say. Her mind was in a mess.
Silent Observer felt that baiting Blue Snow was too simple as she sat across from Blue Snow, who looked dazed. Blue Snow was very smart, but her intelligence seemed to have dwindled to zero when she was faced with something that concerned her feelings.
“Look at our beautiful little Snow. Your face is so red. Have you truly fallen for that guy?”
“I didn"t! I"m only curious about him. Furthermore… he looks like he"s very powerful. Maybe he"ll know some things that I wish to find out about…”
The redness in Blue Snow"s face receded a little as she spoke, and her panicky expression suddenly turned into a gloomier one.
“Eh… Snow, I"ve told you before that if I don"t know about something, then n.o.body else knows. So…” Silent Observer looked very serious as she spoke.
“Are you trying to deliberately change the subject? Haih… I didn"t expect our little Snow to be so deep in her feelings.” Silent Observer looked like she felt sorry for her.
“I told you that"s not true!” Blue Snow"s face turned red once more.
Silent Observer casually switched the conversation back around.
“Really? Then why is your face red again, Snow?”
“That… that"s because I just choked on my coffee!”
“But why are your ears so red?”
“That"s…. because the coffee is too hot!”
“Uh… Snow, your coffee has gone cold for a long time because of all your stirring…”
“Ugh… you"re so annoying, Silent…”