The Fairy Market

Li Wen had taken care of her bodily needs in reality. By the time she returned to the game, dawn was just breaking.

She checked her status. Her health had dropped to 34%, while her mana remained at 10/20. That was normal—being offline did not automatically restore health or mana.

After some thought, she used Prayer Incantation once, restoring her health to over 80% and pulling herself out of the seriously injured state, so she would not be left at death's door by a casual ambush.

Li Wen then left the cave.

Outside lay a forest filled with plants that even Li Wen did not recognize. There was not the slightest trace of humanity as far as the eye could see, so she could only pick a direction that looked like an exit and move forward.

There was not even a path through the dense primeval forest. At times, Li Wen had to draw the Bone-Gnawing Short Sword and cut down bushes or vines blocking her way before she could continue, which only worsened her already feeble stamina.

"You can't get in that way."

After Li Wen once again laboriously chopped down a crooked tree blocking her path, a shrill, piercing voice rang out.

Li Wen stopped and looked around, but she saw no sign of the speaker.

"Over here! Over here!"

This time, the direction was clearer, and the voice was closer. Li Wen looked down and found a short, green-skinned humanoid creature, barely over half a meter tall, hiding in the grass and watching her.

A dwarf elf?

Dwarf elves were a kind of fairy. They were usually very small, with conspicuous green skin and pointed ears like elves. They were widely distributed throughout the Kingdom of Arthur, and sometimes could even be seen inside commoners' homes. Some said they were skilled thieves and compulsive liars; others said they hid stolen gold at the end of rainbows. More often, though, people avoided mentioning them.

"This is Mr. Bird. If you want to attend the market, you must show proof. Otherwise, you cannot force your way into this forest sealed by magic."

Sealed by magic?

Li Wen frowned. "I just want to leave."

"Then you went the wrong way! The way out is in the opposite direction!" After saying that, the dwarf elf muttered another phrase that sounded like a fairy proverb.

So that was it. No wonder the path had become harder the farther she went—she had been heading in the wrong direction. Li Wen nodded in understanding.

"What kind of market are you talking about?"

Having obtained the information she needed, Li Wen began paying attention to other matters.

"It's a market held by fairies! Mr. Bird is responsible for stopping people who weren't invited!"

Fairies had no market culture. They must have learned it from humans and other intelligent races. Fairies were born with magic and enjoyed collecting strange, magic-rich objects, so many supernatural individuals tried every possible way to take part.

"How do I qualify?"

The dwarf elf in front of her did not seem particularly bright, so Li Wen gave up on leaving immediately. She still had not gotten The Final Codex in hand. To enter the Amber Temple and deal with other situations, she needed this market to replenish her magical raw materials. If she could find some useful magical items, even better.

"A Black Henbane Leaf enchanted by Granny Marsha, like this one!" The dwarf elf pulled out a palm-sized leaf from somewhere. Pale blue magic could faintly be seen flowing along its veins.

"You have a lot of those leaves?"

"Of course! Mr. Bird is specifically in charge of this. Everyone who receives an invitation has to hand their Magic Leaf over to me." As if to prove it, the dwarf elf conjured a pile of similar leaves with magic and held them in her hands. "Ha, I know you want to get these leaves from clever Mr. Bird, but let me tell you, that's impossible!"

After saying that, the dwarf elf muttered more fairy words, looking extremely agitated.

"...Ah, of course, nothing is absolute. If you can correctly answer Mr. Bird's riddle, I'll let you in!"

Fairies loved testing other intelligent races. No one knew where they had picked up such a bad habit.

"Fine. Ask away."

"Hmm, let me think of a question. It definitely can't be too easy, or Granny Marsha will blame me..."

Li Wen had not expected to solve the dwarf elf's riddle. While the dwarf elf was distracted thinking up a question, she swiftly slipped a leaf from between the creature's fingers, and the dwarf elf did not react at all.

Nimble Hands and Professional Pickpocket were called the most suitable traits for new players for good reason. Even by the time Li Wen had started playing in her previous life, the first piece of advice in beginner guides was still to choose those two traits.

"Got it! Here's my question: Without speaking, you have said my name; yet you must speak it. But if you can speak my name with words, that would be a miracle."

"I don't know." Li Wen could not be bothered to answer. She directly presented the leaf she had just taken. "But I have a Magic Leaf. I was invited. Can I attend the market?"

The dwarf elf froze. With her not particularly bright mind, it was difficult for her to notice anything wrong. She was merely saddened that no one could answer her riddle. "Of course. Fairies welcome any friend, except those red-skinned bastards from Purgatory..."

The leaf in Li Wen's hand broke free of her control and stamped itself onto a huge, ancient oak in the distance. As light flashed, a tree hollow large enough for one person to pass through appeared in the oak. It was deep and dark, and there was no telling where it led.

"Welcome! Welcome!"

Several more dwarf elves sprang out of the tree hollow, welcoming Li Wen into the unknown world. They jumped in front of her and tugged at her cloak. Only after realizing they could not move it did they turn and head back into the hollow.

Li Wen did not hesitate and followed them inside.

Unlike the teleportation in Amber City, which gave one the sensation of weightlessness, Li Wen merely felt her vision blur before she arrived in a brand-new world.

All manner of novel and bizarre plants formed a fantastical forest: towering giant mushrooms large enough to serve as houses, nameless trees whose every branch was soft and damp like tentacles, and flowers with eyeballs growing from their blossoms that seemed especially shy.

There were also countless kinds of fairies, hopping about or fluttering through the air.

Li Wen was not surprised by any of it. This place had not left the mortal world. Fairies used magic to transform the forests where they lived, and long before Arthur was called Arthur, this had already been a realm of fairies.

Li Wen looked toward the only road in this magical forest. At its end lay the heart of the woods, surrounded by blooming flowers and dense vegetation, and she could already hear the lively clamor of a crowd.

Already expectant, Li Wen grew even more curious about what she would see here.