Chapter 273 - Forgotten Lands
After entering the basement of the Purple Sun Mansion…
Shi Feng took a look around, finding nothing special about the place.
The entire room was empty. There was none of the cold wind from before, neither was there the oppressive feeling that could shock even one’s soul.
“There’s nothing here? Were my senses playing tricks on me?” When Fire Dance discovered no monsters in the basement, she promptly put away her daggers, sheathing the weapons back into their scabbards.
“I don’t know, but it is indeed true that there is no danger here,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head.
As players experienced more and more battles in God’s Domain, their sensitivity towards danger would also gradually improve. It was especially true for an expert of God’s Domain. Moreover, this ability of players to perceive danger was usually not wrong.
“Let’s take a closer look around,” Shi Feng said.
If they could not resolve this mysterious situation whereby the mansion’s inhabitants were spirited away, should something actually happen, it would be a tragedy if the incident scared away the NPCs that came to commission quests with the Guild.
If players were the ones to get caught up in this mystery, they would at worst die once, losing a Level and some Skill Proficiency. However, it would be different if an NPC were to get entangled in this matter. If they died, then it would be a true death for them; the Main God System would not revive them.
Hence, it was imperative for Shi Feng to resolve this mystery as soon as possible. Otherwise, this prime real estate would be worthless.
After the trio searched for more than ten minutes, they found no problems with the place. Not to mention a monster, they couldn’t even find a mouse in this place.
However, Shi Feng did not think that the enormous pressure he felt before was an illusion, especially since he had also felt this pressure previously in his past life; it was just that he could not recall when he had felt it exactly.
After searching for a long time and getting no results, Shi Feng’s group had no other choice but to return upstairs.
“What’s going on here?!” The moment the group arrived upstairs, Aqua Rose immediately called out in shock when she saw the scene before her.
Aqua Rose wasn’t the only person who was shocked; even Shi Feng was taken aback by what he saw.
They had simply returned to the hall on the first floor, yet, the scene here was completely different from before. No longer was it the empty, dilapidated hall they had seen. Instead, the sight that greeted the three after they exited the staircase was an intricate labyrinthine corridor. It was as if they had arrived at an entirely different place; it was definitely not the former Purple Sun Mansion they had been in.
At this moment, a notification sounded from the system.
System: Players have discovered the Forgotten Lands. All communications to the outside world are temporarily disabled.
“So it turns out to be something like this.” Shi Feng suddenly came to a realization. He finally knew why the previous owners of the mansion had all disappeared one after another. It turned out that all of them had been transported to this location.
“Guild Leader, I can’t use my Return Scroll,” Fire Dance said, her eyebrows wrinkled. “This is just like the time in the Trial of God.”
“It seems that this place isn’t ordinary at all.” Shi Feng began observing his surroundings.
Shi Feng had encountered numerous such situations in his previous life. It was just like the Lost Lands he had encountered shortly after entering God’s Domain in this life. He had even obtained the Abyssal Blade from that place.
Although the Forgotten Lands was different from the Lost Lands, both still had their similarities. Most likely, players trapped in this place would be released after they completed a certain quest. However, unlike the time in the Lost Lands, none of them received any notifications of having triggered a quest.
Soon after, Shi Feng’s group of three advanced into the labyrinth and began to explore the map.
Shi Feng couldn’t help but admit that this map was very large. Even after they had wandered around for more than six hours, they still hadn’t finished exploring the place. In the end, the three of them decided to split up and continue their exploration. In any case, they had not met with any dangers so far, and it would be much more efficient if they explored the map separately.
Unwittingly, a day passed by without anything happening.
Only on the second day did Aqua Rose find something new in the region she explored.
Aqua Rose discovered a large magic array. According to the speculations of Shi Feng and an Elementalist like Aqua Rose, it should be a magic array that was Tier 5 or above. However, as to what this magic array was used for, not even Shi Feng with his bountiful experience could guess. Unless there was a Tier 5 Wizard or a Tier 6 Mage God before them…
Following which, after spending the rest of the day exploring the place, Fire Dance discovered a second magic array that looked exactly the same as the first one. Other than this discovery, the trio found nothing else. They did not find even a single monster throughout their exploration, nor did they receive any quest notifications.
Aqua Rose entertained the thought of simply giving up on this pointless endeavor. It would be more worthwhile for her to just kill herself and return to the city.
In this godforsaken place, they could not level up, neither was there any quest for them to complete. They were simply wasting their time by staying here. Moreover, she was the manager of the Guild; she still had many things she needed to do. How could she afford to waste so much precious time in this place? Moreover, there was still the matter of the Guild Residence.
However, Shi Feng discouraged Aqua Rose from taking such an action.
The reason being, there was no guarantee she could return to the city even if she killed herself. In the event that she could not return, she would have lost a Level for nothing.
Listening to Shi Feng’s words, Aqua Rose had no choice but to give up on this idea of hers as she continued exploring this Forgotten Lands.
When the third day arrived, after exploring a majority of the Forgotten Lands, the group discovered three more magic arrays. In total, they had discovered five of such Tier 5 magic arrays.
Soon after, the three of them met up and shared their map information with each other.
The moment their map information sharing was completed, a notification sounded from the system…
System: Unique Quest “Miracles Unsealed” activated.
Quest details: Remove the seal on the Forgotten Lands.
Quest rewards: Unknown.
“Remove the seal on the Forgotten Lands? The quest doesn’t even tell us how to do so. What are we even supposed to do here?” Fire Dance glared at the notification screen in anger.
They had been exploring this place for three days now, yet, the only thing they got in return was this quest that provided them with no hints at all. The game was simply too despicable.
“It should be around here,” Shi Feng said, pointing on the map. To be precise, he was pointing at an area central to the five magic arrays. “Magic arrays require Mana to operate, and normally use Mana Crystals as a source for Mana. However, although the magic arrays were functioning properly when we discovered them, there was no sign of any Mana Crystals on site powering them. Moreover, these five magic arrays seem to be an integrated structure, so there should be a place where they draw their Mana from. We’ve already explored the outskirts of the Forgotten Lands, and the only area we have yet to explore is the central region. There is a high possibility the power source for these magic arrays are situated in the central region. If we destroy the Mana Crystal there, we should be able to complete this quest.”
“Guild Leader, I never expected you to know so much about magic arrays. For a second there, I even thought you were an Elementalist or a Cursemancer, and not a Swordsman at all,” Aqua Rose said teasingly.
“I just studied the topic by accident. There are plenty of books on magic arrays inside the Library of White River City, after all. If you manage to read all the books inside the White River City Library, you will definitely be more amazing than I am,” Shi Feng laughed.
“The Library? I would like to go there, but I’ll need a permit to do so. Guild Leader, since you’re the one who mentioned it, you have to take responsibility!” Aqua Rose also knew the importance of the Library. If an Elementalist wished to learn more powerful spells, the best way to do so was at the Library. Unfortunately, she lacked the permit to enter the Library. The only choice she had now was to steadily raise her reputation in White River City.
“Okay, I’ll get you a permit to the Library after we leave this place.” Shi Feng shook his head and laughed again.
As a Demon Hunter, he could obtain a permit to the Library any time he wanted. Moreover, now that he was a Viscount of White River City, as one of the true nobles of the city, he could easily obtain a handful of Library Emblems.
Following which, the three of them ran towards the central region of the Forgotten Lands.
Four hours later, the trio arrived outside the central region. If they wished to enter the place, they needed to go through a very long crystalline pathway. However, there was a giant three-headed wolf made out of blue crystals blocking the entrance of the pathway.
“So there is a monster here after all.” Fire Dance’s eyes glowed with interest when she saw this three-headed wolf. After several days of no combat, her hands were already itching for action.