Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 108

A week has passed since the new expansion pack was added.

All the locations of the newly added class instructors have been revealed, and the respawn cycle and movement radius of the rare mount, Windwalker, are now known to all.

Many of the hidden quests have also been disclosed.

However, no player has exceeded level 80 yet.

The chatter started from day one. It was noted that leveling up in this expansion pack was significantly slower.

I realized I wasn’t imagining things.

It was different this time. All players were feeling it for sure.

Even with a whole day spent hunting and running repeat quests, the pace of gaining experience felt slower than a snail crawling.

I too was stuck, unable to surpass level 79.

Looking at the level frozen at 79 made me sigh.

Even after completing all the side quests available at this level, it remained.

“Peace! Peace! The NPCs must be suffering too!”

“Stop preparing for war right now!”

Self-proclaimed pacifists were gathering again, babbling nonsense.

Now, in a situation everyone was familiar with, there wasn’t any player paying attention to their voices.

Everyone was saying to just stay in the corner and not block the way.

“Let’s go!”

Ignoring the voices of the crazies, I flew up into the sky with Windwalker today as well.

By now, I was so used to this sensation of flying.

*

That late evening, after sticking to my optimal hunting route without catching my breath, I finally reached level 80.

I had hit the level needed to continue the blocked main quest.

[Final Stage to Prepare for War]

Cross over to the otherworld to gather information 0/11

The main quest contained mostly what most players expected.

The serious exploration of the otherworld begins. They have crossed over, and now it’s our turn to go the other way.

Before crossing over to the otherworld, there was some preparation to do.

I hurried back to the World Tree’s Resting Place.

I had achieved level 80.

Deron’s items tended to significantly spike in specs every 15-level interval, so I had to equip 80-level gear.

I took off all my beloved 65-level raid gear and equipped the 80-level rare gear I had stashed away.

Since the gear was easily obtainable in the field, it wasn’t particularly beautiful in appearance.

I immediately headed to the blacksmith NPC to change the appearance of my gear.

It was a costly endeavor, but better than wandering around in ugly gear.

My character always had to look cool.

The main quest was saying I needed to head to a new area. It involved exploring unfamiliar lands that no one had reached yet.

Proper preparation was essential.

I collected herbs and low-tier potions with my wolf and looked for an alchemist NPC.

Having reached level 80, I needed to create new potions and doping drugs suitable for that level.

At the alchemy machine, I adjusted the settings for the 80-level health potion.

Then I poured in all the materials I had, and the alchemy machine made sputtering noises as it spat out the new potion.

Various doping drugs are created in a similar fashion.

After about 10 minutes of investment, I was able to process all the materials piled up in my inventory.

All preparations were complete. It was truly time to set off.

“Come out!”

I took a stance to summon my mount.

Spreading my legs and arms wide, I stretched them out.

Suddenly, a large magical formation formed in the air, and from it, a majestic griffon sprang out.

“Squawk!”

I hopped on the griffon and quickly flew out of the city.

Below, through the haze, self-proclaimed peace activists were protesting even though it was late.

Unlike reality, it seemed standing for a whole day wasn’t physically draining at all.

Just as I turned my head, the griffon kicked off the air and began to accelerate.

Boom-!

The surrounding scenery elongated and flew by in an instant.

After flying for a while, I reached the portal to the otherworld.

The shimmering wind guiding the main quest was also headed towards that portal.

I charged into the portal with my griffon.

“Let’s go!”

“Screech!”

Whoosh-!

I dove almost straight down from the sky and passed through the portal to the otherworld.

In that moment, my griffon was forcibly dismissed, and I was transported to another world in a flash of light.

Spot-!

The area where I arrived with the light was, unlike before, in the middle of a forest.

“What the…?”

I looked around in slight confusion.

Previously, I had arrived on top of a large altar through that portal.

Clearly, this wasn’t a forest.

Could it be that a bug occurred?

I rubbed my chin and nodded.

I needed to find a way out of this forest.

“Come out!”

I stretched out my arms and legs, shouting.

I wanted to summon my dismissed griffon back to this place.

However, a faint message appeared before my eyes.

[Flying is not allowed in this area.]

Flying not allowed?

Could it be that I couldn’t summon my griffon because flying wasn’t allowed here?

I frowned and attempted to summon another mount this time.

“Come out!”

This time, there was no warning.

The large magical formation in the air summoned a gallant wolf.

“Growl!”

In this unfamiliar place, the map wasn’t revealed.

I needed to run around to uncover the entire area.

But first, finding the nearest village was a priority.

There was a path through the forest.

It looked like it was saying to follow this way, and the guiding winds of the main quest were scattering along that path.

Thud- thud- thud-

Riding the wolf, I quickly traversed through the forest.

I didn’t see any easily collectible fruits like tree berries. Basic hunting targets like rabbits or deer were also absent.

The leaves swaying slowly had a yellowish tint.

The grass on the ground looked droopy, as if lacking any vitality.

After running for a while, I reached the entrance to a small village.

The buildings were of a style not seen in Deron. There were houses with tiled roofs and rundown thatched huts in sight.

The small stone walls around the houses, the unpaved dirt roads, and the garb of the NPCs…

It felt just like being in a historical drama set.

As expected, this was as I predicted. The world beyond the portal to the otherworld was a martial arts world.

I urged my wolf slowly into the village.

These were unfamiliar NPCs, but there were blue question marks floating above their heads.

[Hungry Villager]

This was a nameless NPC.

Usually, in such cases, there would also be no linked quests.

I decided to experiment and spoke to the villager.

“Hey.”

“Umm…? A stranger’s face. What brings you to this village?”

“Need help?”

“Uh? Help? Ha, that’s ridiculous. Are you trying to play the hero? Forget it. If word gets out that someone’s helping during such times, it will just be a hassle.”

Just as I expected. The NPCs scattered around were naturally revealing information about this region through brief dialogues.

But the content wasn’t particularly intriguing.

I needed experience points.

“Just tell me what you need.”

“You’re an odd one. If you have some spare change, share some food.”

[Hungry Villager’s Request]

Give 5 ‘food’ items.

It wasn’t a difficult condition.

I took out a steak item from my inventory and handed it to him.

“Umm… I’ll gratefully accept.”

That was it for the quest.

Since it wasn’t a tough condition, the experience I could gain was minimal.

I roamed around on my wolf, completing the side quests of the NPCs in this village.

Most nameless NPCs were starving, injured, or sick.

The items they requested weren’t difficult to acquire.

Food, potions, antidotes, etc. I could gain information and experience points with cheap items.

Famine, drought, curses… these were words flowing repetitively from the NPCs’ lips.

It seemed there was a significant famine in this world.

Now it was time to perform a quest from an NPC with a proper name.

As a result of helping the villagers, a previously unexisting quest emerged.

[Old Man Heo]

This individual, known as Old Man Heo by the villagers, allegedly worked as a scholar in the former royal court.

“You. I hear you’ve been helping the villagers lately. What’s your purpose?”

The stern-looking Old Man Heo questioned me as he glared.

Is this a classic martial arts story flashing through my mind?

At this moment, I was starting to fully immerse myself in the game.

“Is a reason needed to help people?”

“What a preposterous thought. With this unprecedented famine and drought, even the royal court is struggling, and you’re throwing money around in this insignificant village?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Speak truthfully, you’re not here to look for sacrifices for a human sacrifice, are you?”

“Human sacrifice?”

I stared at him, bewildered for quite a while.

Old Man Heo raised an eyebrow and asked.

“Are you really not from the royal family?”

“I’m unrelated.”

But the suspicious old man didn’t seem to trust me easily.

“I find it hard to believe you for now.”

“What would it take for you to trust me?”

“There are some ominous stakes nearby; if you bring them back, I’ll believe you.”

[Old Man Heo’s Request]

Collect 20 ominous stakes found near the village 0/20

I frowned and looked at Old Man Heo.

A gentle wind glowed and swirled around him.

It was a sign indicating I needed to proceed with the main quest.

It appeared I had to complete Old Man Heo’s side quest to acquire the conditions for the main quest.

The true story was beginning now.

I urged my wolf out of the village.

Thud- thud- thud-!

The place I arrived at after leading the wolf was a forest quite far from the village.

At the forest’s floor, indeed, there were ominous stakes emitting an unsettling atmosphere, just as Old Man Heo had mentioned.

However, there was one peculiar detail.

Around the stakes sticking out of the ground, there were actually vibrant grasses growing up.