Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 713 - 657: Are you also playing games alone?

Chapter 713: Chapter 657: Are you also playing games alone?

The young Elves skipped and jumped across the grassland, the refreshing breeze slapping their faces, free of the obstruction of tall plant life, and the sun cast their long shadows across the vast plains. Above their heads were white frames visible to each other, with their own names written inside, [Luke] and [Aidan].

Planting his beginner’s sword into the ground like a cane, Luke stood atop a mound, gazing into the distance at the ripples that the wind created across the grass.

The two newcomers to Dreamland were still too conservative, using their original names and retaining their usual appearances. Perhaps they had made slight adjustments to their facial features to suit their aesthetics, but such minor changes provided at most a bit of psychological comfort.

Dreamland Ondream.

Such a mark hid among the clouds, easily visible with just a glance upward.

"This place is truly beautiful."

"A different kind of beauty from the Dream Forest."

The young Elves hadn’t forgotten their mission. They conjured a small slip of paper out of thin air, detailing the plan they had agreed upon with Claudia. It was a simple memo command that Kristo had added to the tutorial, helping every player understand this world. It also served as the prototype for the task list and chat system.

"Complete the beginner’s tutorial, leave the Village of Beginnings, head north for twenty miles to the plains, and wait... Aidan, is there anything I’ve got wrong regarding Lady Claudia’s arrangements?"

Clutching a white slip of paper similar to his companion’s, Aidan scrutinized its content and took Luke’s paper to compare, "You remembered correctly, we have indeed arrived at the place. Lady Claudia should be nearby. It’s strange, we should be able to see her around here."

The two continued to scan the surroundings, but the unchanging prairie now seemed less endearing as they found nothing.

"Perhaps Lady Claudia will suddenly appear before us with a ’bam.’ I heard that the most skilled shape-shifting Druids can turn themselves into creatures as small as tanukis or musk deer. Our mentor always mentioned her astonishing Druid talent."

"But even the most adept Druid can’t turn into a mosquito or a bee. In such a prairie, I think I can see a mosquito’s wings. She is not here, at least not according to common sense."

Right under their noses, about a meter off the ground, the air shimmered. The warm sunlight and the blowing wind lifted the edge of a curtain, and Claudia, wearing a brown cinched leather tunic, peeked out from the gap, greeting them.

And above her head, the name frame read, [Admin Must Die].

"Come on over, we’ll leave the safe zone and hunt some wild boars to get your levels up to five." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Luke and Aidan passed through the ’curtain,’ instantly transitioning from the plains to a completely different area. That curtain acted like a portal, but there was no essential feeling of dizziness.

Clodita let the curtain fall, the piece of space closed up, seamlessly integrated. Looking back from this side, the prairie with its white-walled villages resembled a painting.

"The current Dreamland is still a beta version. The connections between maps aren’t very polished, and a lot of details are yet to be filled in. Consider them technical glitches or BUGS, and don’t mind them too much."

Luke and Aidan didn’t understand, but they knew how to nod.

The forest before them made the Elves feel at home. Tall conifers pierced the sky, brown moss, and dark-green lichens congregated on rocks, while clovers and nettles intertwined indistinguishably. With a few more vines, a few more plants out of season, Luke could even point out where his treehouse would be in a corner of the forest.

But it wasn’t there. Instead, this forest made the Elves somewhat afraid. Decaying roots lay bare in the air, the overturned soil below was the blackness of death, and some malformed branches entwined around holly trunks like strangling ropes, with ghastly green lumps replacing where berries should be. The trees were sick, infected with a terrifying malady.

Claudia was accustomed to these scenes, but seeing the grim expressions of the two Elves, she still recited the opening speech required by Lyle like a chant.

"This is a world plagued by Nightmare, Sons of the Forest. In the name of the Dream Dragon Claudia, I call for your help, you young and kind-hearted Dream Elves. Help rid this kingdom of Nightmares. Join me in battle, for the sake of tomorrow’s world."

"I wish to become the Force of Nature, my lord." Luke shouted as he swung his longsword chaotically, while Aidan had already started to use his sword as a shovel to scrape away a piece of dead and rotting bark.

Claudia covered her face, not quite sure if the Elves’ enthusiasm was a good or bad thing.

"That’s not the real enemy, our real enemy is..."

Just then, a rustling came from the bushes, and a sturdy little wild boar appeared.

"It’s respawned. Go forth, warriors who purify the Dreamland!"

"Aaaaah..."

Luke and Aidan charged forward and fought back and forth with the little boar. Fortunately, it was just an ordinary monster, and after five or six sword strikes, the boar fell dead, turned into fragments, leaving behind only three Gold Coins and a pair of tusks as loot.

Claudia continued to fight monsters with the two, eventually teaching them some of the basics of sword fighting, and like this they leveled up to level five by grinding little boars.

Along the way, Claudia showed off a bit by taking down a level three little boar with a single sword strike.

"Wow, you’re amazing, Lady Claudia, you defeated the Nightmare little pig in a single blow!"

Claudia felt a bit helpless upon receiving such praise, "I just swung my sword, it’s mostly thanks to the weapon." Saying so, she showed them the shiny sword in her hand.

[The Best Sword in the Village (One of Them)

Attack Power +10

Administrator’s Note: Not bad for a 100G bargain.]

"As mentioned above, you can buy it at the village blacksmith, for one hundred Gold Coins, which are the shiny ones you get from the little boar drops. Just fight monsters normally and by the time you reach level seven, you should have saved enough money."

Claudia led the two deeper into the forest, to a stone altar.

A relief of a heptagram with a triangle nested inside, and on each of the three corners of the triangle was a metal staff topped with a crystal sphere. Claudia directed the two to stand at the three corners, each grasping a staff.

"This is a small altar challenge that requires a three-person team. On my command, we’ll pull out the staffs at the same time. You two immediately run to the center of the altar to hold off the wave of monsters, or you can just play dead. I can handle them in three minutes."

"Three, two, one!"

When the staffs were pulled from the stone plinth, a loud metallic clang echoed, and the three staffs flew up into the air, turning into a tangled mass of purple-black mist, which started to spread slowly, forming a dome that enveloped the entire altar. The view of the surrounding forest grew hazy, and pairs of blood-red eyes lit up one by one in the thick fog.

Feeling the pressure, Luke and Aidan stood back to back, warily scanning their surroundings.

In the mist of continuous, overlapping grunts, Claudia revealed a bloodthirsty grin.

"All of you must die."