Chapter 90: Act 26 – The Golden Mystery
Everyone was startled when they saw that lonely tree. When Brendel mentioned the Golden Apple Tree, did they naturally think of that aspect? The mercenaries immediately recalled Brendel’s mention of the legendary Fairy Queen living beneath the Golden Apple Tree, and the thought that any mortal who saw her would be doomed to remain in this valley for life sent chills down their spines.
They couldn’t help but instinctively glance around, fearing that a moment of carelessness might leave them forever trapped here. They had just barely escaped the Undead Army of Madara; they didn’t want to grow old alone in this place.
What they didn’t expect was that Brendel wasn’t worried about the Golden Apple Tree at all. Players like him from the previous life had long since scoured this valley. What seemed mysterious and unfathomable to others held no secrets for him; from here northward to the valley’s mouth, there was nothing but barren ground and mist.
No monsters, no treasure, nothing living, and not a trace of vitality. As for the legendary Golden Apple Tree and the Fairy Queen, they were more like ephemeral concepts, mere myths passed down among NPCs that players had never encountered.
However, he was surprised by that solitary tree branch. He confirmed it repeatedly; there should be no such tree in the game.
He had walked back and forth through this valley many times, so he shouldn’t be mistaken, as every scene and element in the valley was an idealized manifestation of the kings. Even with the transition from day to night, it would revert to its original state—Brendel remembered clearly that changes in scenery would only occur if there were shifts in the valley’s plot or the flow of time.
But there shouldn’t be any quests in this valley. Could it be that the fairy land visible to everyone at this moment was not the same as that in the game? Brendel’s mind immediately generated a hypothesis; unless someone had concealed his experiences, or the fairy land had changed before the players’ arrival.
But which scenario was it?
The former seemed plausible, but upon closer consideration, it raised questions. For players, it was often difficult for one person to uncover all of a place’s secrets, so even if the first person concealed something, the chance of everyone thinking along the same lines was slim. However, Brendel then thought that it might also be the case that one person had visited many times; while it seemed idealized, it wasn’t impossible.
He recalled that the first person to discover this valley was a theologian member of the Starlight Guild, a player named “Kranvor.” The second to enter was a knight, and the third was a female player from KOK, but the time intervals between the three of them were only a few days apart, making the possibility of concealment quite low.
Brendel shook his head; it wasn’t this reason. Then it was the second option—the valley had changed before the players entered. This was not something possible in the game—but this involved two factors.
One was a plot shift, and the other was NPC exploration. He couldn’t help but frown; knowing too little about the quest without player involvement was a significant problem for him. The unknown—it was a huge hassle.
But as Brendel stared at that tree, he couldn’t help but become intrigued, just like every player, born with an innate interest in secret quests, much like how unknown treasures irresistibly attracted people to pursue them.
Surely, a quest involving ancient knowledge couldn’t be ordinary, right?
He immediately gestured for the others to make the refugees stop. Time in the valley at night stopped relative to the outside world; this night would last three days and three nights. As long as he had time to explore this valley before their food ran out.
In fact, the valley wasn’t that large; running back and forth would take only a few hours, hardly needing three days.
He saw Retao looking at him with confusion, and then pointed to that tree, replying, “It seems there are some issues; I want to check ahead.”
“Do you need help?” Retao, an old soldier from the November War, asked, feeling helpless in the face of the mysterious.
Brendel indeed needed help.
However, he looked at the mercenaries and didn’t quite trust them. After all, this might involve some legendary treasures as well as the same dangers; he didn’t want to share secrets with these people; he needed to find someone reliable. He first looked at Charles; this young mage had been his best choice—being a summoner, they could practically share secrets—but unfortunately, Charles had exhausted his magic power in that night’s battle and was now only slightly stronger than an ordinary person.
He then looked at Romaine, but this Merchant Miss was also not suitable. Although she had keen perception, her own weakness made her unsuitable for dangers alongside him.
Romaine looked at him and blinked innocently.
Brendel knew this Merchant Miss was putting on an act, trying to get him to take her along on the adventure, but he wouldn’t fall for it. He finally turned around and set his eyes on the absent-minded Freya.
“Freya?”
“Ah? Ah—!” Freya looked up at him, momentarily stunned, and her face flushed bright red.
“What’s wrong with you?” Brendel was taken aback at her reaction. In his original impression, Freya was a proactive girl with her insights, but since leaving the Xavier Mountain Road, she had been acting peculiarly.
If it weren’t for the fact that the Elven Sword didn’t react to her, Brendel would have suspected she was replaced by Madara’s Undead.
“N-nothing, Brendel! What’s the matter?” Freya, recalling Brendel’s strange request earlier, was flustered and fearful of being seen through.
“I want to go check ahead; come with me.”
Freya hesitated for a moment but quickly nodded, “O-okay.”
“I want to go too.” The Merchant Miss twisted on her horse.
“You stay here and behave. If you want to learn horseback riding, I’ll let Charles teach you. But if I come back and find you tied to the horse, I’ll drag you over and tie you to the back of my horse!” Brendel shot a fierce look at her.
“But I can’t learn.” Romaine replied straightforwardly.
Can’t you be a bit humble? Brendel couldn’t help but shake his head. “It’s fine; there’s still plenty of time. Horseback riding is easy. You have to come on this adventure with me; not knowing how to ride won’t do.”
“It’s fine, Brendel. I can tie myself to the horse; I don’t feel uncomfortable at all.” The Merchant Miss thought for a moment and replied seriously.
“That’s a big deal; there’s no necessary connection between what you feel comfortable with and this.” Brendel glared at her, too lazy to entertain the complaints of this future Merchant Miss. He simply ran over to Retao to discuss possible precautions before grabbing a backup crossbow and setting off with Freya.
In Brendel’s memory, the most likely plot presence in this valley was the western path. However, the more hidden a place was, the more players searched it, and in fact, Brendel had gone through it once or twice, but in the end, he found nothing.
Yet he still remembered every blade of grass and rock in that area.
As they left the team, Brendel kept his eyes peeled on the scenery around them. After about ten minutes of galloping, he finally confirmed his guess—this fairy land was definitely different from the game, and something unknown had happened over the months following this.
However, seeing him circle a rocky area, Freya followed behind, puzzled, and couldn’t help but catch up to ask, “Brendel, what are you looking at?”
“I’m searching for an entrance.” Brendel constantly turned his horse around as he scanned the scattered giant white rocks. At that moment, he seemed to have found something, suddenly dismounting and walking toward the rocky area.
“An entrance?” Freya dismounted and ran after him.
“Yeah. It’s right here; follow me—” As Brendel answered, he unsheathed the Elven Sword, stepping toward a narrow crevice between two sharp rocks.
He recalled that this was called the “Fork of Destiny.” In the game, reaching this point would trigger a system prompt, but clearly, there was no prompt in this world; he could only rely on experience.
He remembered that behind these rocks was supposed to be an open iron box containing a stone tablet, an essential item for entering the Fork of Destiny, but one that couldn’t be taken out of the valley. Someone had tried to store it in a dimensional bag to carry it out, but the result was it vanished mysteriously.
It could only be explained that the stone tablet was originally part of this world’s idealization.
As he thought about this and navigated around the rocks, he didn’t expect a gust of wind to rush toward him. At this moment, Brendel’s senses were extremely sharp; before he could even register it in his mind, his body had already reacted instinctively—he stepped back and collided into Freya, and the next moment, a golden arrow zipped past his nose.
Both of them stumbled back, and Brendel managed to look up at the last moment, catching sight of a golden figure vanishing behind the rocks. Had he not reacted quickly, he wouldn’t have even seen where the attack came from.
“Who—!” Brendel instinctively pushed off the ground to get up and pursue, but just as his hand pressed down, he felt a soft sensation in his grasp, and after a moment of silence, he realized that his mind had gone blank.
No way.
He turned around and found his hand resting exactly where it shouldn’t be on the chest of the maiden. Freya was completely frozen, her bright light brown eyes staring at him, at a loss for words.
But the future Valkyrie finally regained her composure. She suddenly pushed Brendel aside and quickly got up, keeping her head down in silence.
Brendel also snapped back to reality. He quickly stood up, pretending to look into the direction where that golden figure had retreated—of course, there was no sign of a ghost in that direction anymore.
“Sorry about that…” He struggled for a long time to squeeze out such a dry statement.
“Um, who was that just now?” Freya, with her head lowered, blushed fiercely.
“I don’t know; I saw a golden figure, and fairies aren’t like that. It looked more like a summoned creature.” When it came to a professional domain, Brendel’s thoughts became much clearer.
“A-are you hurt?” The maiden’s voice was as thin as a mosquito.
Brendel glanced at her and shook his head. He carefully inspected where that golden arrow had come from but only found a deep hole in the side of the rocky wall.
Light Arrow?
Brendel furrowed his brow at the small hole; after all, it was the effect of a high-grade weapon. However, at least it confirmed that what he saw earlier was not an illusion, and judging from the opponent’s speed, their strength didn’t seem to match Aibodun’s. With that thought, he relaxed a bit—if he remained vigilant, there shouldn’t be too much trouble.
After the battle with Aibodun, he had confirmed his own strength; at full capacity, he could barely reach the Silver level, and now he wasn’t overly afraid of enemies below Silver.
After checking the battlefield, Brendel signaled Freya to stay alert and then cautiously stepped deeper inside with the Elven Sword.
He remembered that the golden figure had fled through the northern crevice, behind which was the entrance to the Fork of Destiny. Could they have come from there? But in the game, there were never rumors of anyone being attacked.
He soon spotted the iron box behind the rocks—it was positioned on a white stone platform as if someone had placed it there. It could be destroyed if someone had power exceeding Gold level, but that was pointless since by the next night it would automatically revert to its original state.
Brendel looked around; he was starting to doubt his previous memories. At least that golden figure had already altered some determined aspects of his recollections. There was not just life here but seemingly hostile ones as well.
After confirming there were no enemies, he opened the box. But as soon as he lifted the lid, he couldn’t help but feel stunned.
Inside the box, aside from a stone tablet, there was also a pair of earrings.
What is this?
Brendel hesitated; he was concerned that there might be magical traps, although there weren’t any in the game, who could say in this situation? However, he had a simple testing method; he brought the Elven Sword closer. Often, totems of magical items had some simple protective measures, and he just needed to see if there was any reaction.
This method wasn’t always effective, but at least it was better than nothing.
Brendel quickly got his result—no response.
Only then did he pick up the earrings, gave them a cursory glance, and immediately dropped them as if he had been scalded: “Earrings of Endless Ice, Intelligence +2, Will +1.” Brendel could not help but groan, instinctively covering his head; at that moment, he felt like his skull was splitting apart, as if a thousand needles were stabbing at his meninges.
“Brendel?” Freya exclaimed, rushing over to support him.
“I’m fine; just be careful around us.” Brendel steadied himself against the iron box, breathing heavily while quietly cursing the person who left the earrings there. He knew what the issue was; this wasn’t a trap but rather the backlash of excessive magical energy—of course, the biggest problem was—this ring was at least 95Oz worth of gear; how could it randomly appear in a place like this!
His first reaction was that he was hallucinating; his second reaction was that it was impossible. Buche was still a beginner zone at this time, where encounters hardly exceeded level fifty, while this ring far surpassed the tolerable level of encounters, having reached at least level seventy on that scale.
Thus, as Brendel attempted to use his willpower to explore the properties of that ring, the intense magical backlash caused a momentary blankness in his thoughts.
And such a powerful magical item appeared in a low-level area.
In theory, the game shouldn’t have this flaw.
While there might be changes in this world, Brendel didn’t believe that it would stray from the game’s settings. Finally, as the headache subsided a bit, he calmly became aware of another issue:
What if this place for the Forsaken’s relics was originally designed for NPCs to complete?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed; after all, the first discovery of this valley in the game happened not long after the game started, likely about two months after the first Black Rose War had concluded. If at that time this place was already devoid of anything, it indicated that the designer never intended for players to participate in this plot.
Brendel couldn’t help but feel his heart race as he eyed those earrings, a hidden quest over level sixty? Was he allowed to fish in troubled waters? Or should he just back out quickly?
The risks, of course, were unimaginably great, but the rewards might also be equally enormous. In his past life, he had only completed hidden quests above level sixty three times; once he attained a fantasy weapon, once he gained an intermediate skill, and another time he almost obtained a hundred million Tor.
Just by relying on these experiences from those three quests, he ranked among the mid-tier players.
But how great was the risk? Level sixty was like a guillotine before Brendel; at the Gold level, even the elements might have leveled up more than ten levels. If he were to face a typical monster of level sixty, there was a good chance the opponent could take him down with just a glance.
Brendel’s hand rested on the iron box, suddenly feeling stirred; after much deliberation, he was still unable to decide.
Because there was another crucial problem—at any moment in the next three months, everything in this valley might cease to exist; it was entirely possible that if he rejected this adventure today, there would be no chance to choose again tomorrow. For a moment, this dilemma was like a chilling ghost, haunting his mind, urging him again and again to take the risk.
What should he do?
The young man couldn’t help but take a deep breath, turning back to look at Freya.
“Brendel?” Seeing Brendel’s strange expression, Freya couldn’t help but cautiously ask.
“If I choose to go on an adventure, would you be willing to come with me?” Brendel asked, his voice somewhat hoarse.
“I might, but I don’t want you to take the risk, Brendel,” Freya replied after thinking for a moment.
Brendel hesitated for a moment, nodded, and let out a long sigh.
……
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(PS: Over 5200 words to make up for yesterday. To be continued, for more chapters, please log in, support the author, and read legally!)
