A small figure reflected in deep blue eyes. Alana didn’t come closer; she simply leaned against the Adventurers’ Guild door, arms crossed at her leisure, watching Wusu mix with the players.
A beautiful sight stood at the guild’s door.
Even those trotting up to turn in quests looked fresh and lively, treated to a feast for the eyes.
They just all made wide, wide detours, not daring to come near.
Cowards, every last one.
After the incident, Alana Wolfe had raged like a storm; now, across the whole Gloomy Forest territory, a string of big tails trailed behind Wusu wherever he went.
Alana no longer stayed cooped up in the guild; she often lingered at the doorway, quietly keeping watch over the whole forest. Compared with Wusu, this NPC, Alana Wolfe, looked far more the leader of these shadowed lands than he did.
Yet no one dared look down on Wusu.
That territory riot… those massive plants thrashing like frenzied pythons, none of them cared to see it even once more. The NPCs, fine, but the players had endured three years of this game’s brutality, and its realism had always been the genuine article, no shortcuts. Countless branches, for all the world like tentacles, had whipped and danced, clustering around the thing they cherished, forbidding anyone to offend it by a hair, and even Alana had taken wounds.
After that round, even the most chaotic players chose to lie low.
Anyone could see this place was strange; for all they knew, it was some hidden holy ground of the game, and getting hurt or dying here would be a nightmare.
The forum threads had all flared red; those few players clipped by stray hits and insta-returned found their quests gone, with no way back to be found.
[Tavern construction complete.]
[Residential street construction complete.]
[Weapons Forge construction complete. Territory subjects’ base attack attribute +1]
Beyond the temple ruins, a respectable little street had slowly taken shape.
The Adventurers’ Guild anchored one end; across from it stood two adorable mushroom houses, then the tavern and a few fields, and farther along, little houses of every description. Some freshly finished, some bare frames, some looking for all the world like dug pits, some mere grass huts…
Few people, granted.
Few buildings too.
But life was creeping in.
The adventurers’ contracts ran a year; the posted wage said ten pence a day, but as time passed the system quietly bumped it to ten shillings.
Utterly pointless, though.
There was nowhere here to spend a coin.
Wusu’s joy in food seemed to be part of the Gloomy Forest’s awakening; they began finding all manner of edible plants nearby, while the farther map was still opening up bit by bit. Mercifully, though players couldn’t learn this place’s coordinates, the ground they covered marked itself on the mini-map.
The food warehouse and the tavern weren’t going to waste.
When Wusu ambled past Mina, she was sitting in the Weapons Forge, spacing out.
She had the highest blacksmithing skill of anyone here; when the forge was completed, the system had by default booted Mina into it as the blacksmith.
However, the forest had no monster-slaying frontiers needing work for now; what occasionally came to her for repair were chisels, saws, and the like. Terribly idle and boring.
But working the forge, Mina’s hammering skill climbed wickedly fast, which made her perfectly content to stay.
Bored senseless, she pulled up her quest log and poked at it, frowning at the unfinished entry at the very top.
[Legendary Quest: Temple Revival]. That quest simply refused to budge.
Hugo said that, after all, it was a legendary quest; the whole game had only a handful, and rumor was that holy-son player had only earned his title by completing one.
Maybe the time just hadn’t come.
But Mina was honestly bored.
She poked it again, then glanced at Wusu beside her.
Little Wusu sat on the tall stool, little feet swinging, studying the coin in his hand with great seriousness, that little face pondering who knew what.
“How come Wusu doesn’t go to the Divine Temple anymore?”
Mina asked.
Since the failed attack, Alana had worried herself sick over his safety, and Wusu had obediently let her shadow his every step. After a few days, though, the grand knight finally relaxed a little and left the guarding to the players. Only, from that day on, Wusu had never set foot in the Divine Temple again.
“…Angry.” Wusu said it in a tiny voice, that mumbled little tone quick and tender.
Mina couldn’t make it out, and just as she bent down to listen closer, Alesu’s shouting came from outside.
Mina shot out like a cork.
Wusu rubbed the coin between his fingers.
Then, little hands propping his chin, he wore an expression of such woeful, adorable distress.
[The broken Divine Temple has been gradually regaining its former glory. Current awakening degree: 8]
The semi-transparent frame’s upper-left corner showed 8000 points still on hand; Wusu had never found a use for them.
[Mysterious things still spy within the darkness. This is a matter in urgent need of defense. The Divine Temple’s stone pillars hold a nameless power. Restore the pillars’ former radiance to strengthen the power of resistance.
(The Divine Temple gradually gains vitality as its residents grow)
Friendly reminder: the remains of the Star Rainbow Light make excellent materials.]
[Accept] [Refuse]
The System clattered the quest down. Wusu’s big eyes swept the silent, empty Weapons Forge.
Then, unhurried as ever, he reached to poke [Refuse].
Inside the semi-transparent frame, [Refuse] sidled away at a pace both glacial and lightning-quick (just a hair faster than Wusu’s).
Wusu swung his little legs.
And went on prodding [Refuse] at his own leisure.
[Refuse] liquefied into a sniveling (qaq) little stick figure and flopped across Wusu’s white fingertip, looking for all the world terrified he’d keep refusing.
Wusu licked his lips; the sweetness of the fruit he’d just swallowed still clung to them.
When Mina came back, she caught little Wusu perched high on the stool, lazily nested against the windowsill, hugging a soft pillow and drifting off, short legs swinging now and then.
Pfft.
Funny, sure.
But staring at Wusu, Mina caught herself drifting for a few seconds too.
It wasn’t the first time.
Wusu’s features were exquisite as a painting; that small frame draped in a pure white robe carried an otherworldly air that was often hard to look at straight. Soft jet-black curls with the faintest bounce; long, dense lashes that, at every blink, swept past a flash of devastating beauty. His innocence hid none of it; if anything it roused an irrepressible urge to shelter him, a fear of failing to catch the light that fell from his every smile and frown.
Mina cupped her own face in both hands and gawked at the little beauty.
Little Beauty Wusu puffed out his cheeks.
Once the little stick figure had exhausted every clinging, pitiful trick in its arsenal, Wusu’s small finger came down on [Accept].
[Legendary Quest: Temple Revival, Prologue Two: Assist Wusu in repairing the pillars. Forbid any spying thing from stepping into the Divine Temple!]
At the same moment, quest chimes rang in Mina’s ears.
[Quest: Repel the things that spy from the dark!]
[Places graced by the Bell-Chime Tree are prone to invasion. Only two days remain until the incursion! Assist the territory in raising defensive walls and strengthening its protection!]
[Reward: Affection with your affiliated Church +20; any base attribute point +2]
Wild Fox’s pick stopped mid-swing.
Not just him; the players around all traded looks.
They’d all received the quest.
