Heading to Forest City

After settling Su Yu's matter, Su Jiang hurried home.

He quickly logged in.

The Novice Village before him was still packed with people, but the high-level players had vanished.

Most of them had probably reached level ten and headed for the main cities.

Once players left the Novice Village, they could not return. After all, it was merely a place for new players to grow quickly and familiarize themselves with the game world's mechanics and rules.

Su Jiang approached the village chief and explained his purpose.

The village chief lavished Su Jiang with praise, saying that he would surely become a great adventurer.

Su Jiang was then drawn into a mandatory story sequence.

He knew it was an unskippable background introduction, so he was in no hurry and quietly waited for the scene to finish playing.

At that moment, an elderly narration began.

"Within the borders of nothingness, in an era when all things had yet to exist, a god slumbered peacefully there..."

"One day, they awoke."

"They said: This world is too quiet..."

"Rumble—"

Heaven and earth were created, stars evolved, continents appeared, and life awakened... Until all divine power was exhausted, the evolution came to a halt.

The enormous body collapsed with a thunderous crash.

It transformed into invisible rules that operated throughout the skies.

"The great Creator God's divine power was exhausted, and they became nourishment for the growth of the gods!"

"The gods' love, mercy, and generosity did not give birth to kindness in these gods. They were born steeped in evil, corrupting the world and seeking to overthrow the continent! Great adventurer, please help us! Help us resist the corruption of these gods!"

The images of the seven final bosses—Fear, Nightmare, Joy, Wrath, Justice, Revenge, and Death—flashed across the screen in turn.

With the memories of his previous life,

Su Jiang naturally knew that these bosses were not exactly false. After all, the Meta World had condensed humanity's negative emotions into them. Calling them final bosses was not wrong, and they truly existed in a scientific sense.

It was simply that modern technology had yet to reach this field and could not detect the Meta World's strangeness.

The Meta World itself had no consciousness. Just as the background introduction stated, perhaps before the Meta World was created, there had been a conscious being. But after creating the Meta World, that conscious being had become all the cold, emotionless rules governing its operation.

Therefore, the Meta World had created a bug. These seven bosses were invincible. As long as humanity still possessed negative emotions, humans would never be able to completely destroy these bosses.

The animation soon reached its end. The seven gods watched the human continent like tigers eyeing their prey, while the adventurers who descended here bore the mission of saving this land.

"The benevolent god became the rules high above, restricting the evil gods and preventing them from completely destroying humanity. But how could we be willing to hide beneath the gods' holy grace and cling miserably to life..."

"Adventurers, raise the weapons in your hands and resist them!"

The elderly narration ended, marking the end of the background introduction.

The familiar system notification sounded.

"Ding! The cities currently available are as follows..."

"Honored adventurer, please select the city you wish to travel to."

The system displayed a world map. Cities that could be visited were marked in green, while inaccessible cities were marked in red.

The central and eastern regions of the world map were where humanity had developed and gathered. In those places, humans held power.

The northern part of the continent had a frigid climate and was occupied by the elf race, beastmen, and other races. The sea was also home to the Siren Race...

The gods' followers lived in the southern part of the world map, a vast stretch of scorched earth and volcanic terrain. Besides that, they were also adept at hiding underground and among other races.

Because of his Elite Adventurer Adventurer's Badge, Su Jiang could choose from more destinations than ordinary players, including certain cities located in dangerous areas.

"I choose Forest City in the northern Carron Empire."

Su Jiang considered it. In his previous life, he had entered the game rather late. Most cities had been overflowing with people, and he had to compete for quests, experience, and materials. Yet before he could level up much, he had been abducted by the Overlord.

If he had to choose now, he would naturally pick a city most people could not yet access. The fewer players there were, the more resources he could obtain.

Besides, he also had reputation with the Carron Empire, which naturally had to be taken into account.

Forest City was a border city in the northern Carron Empire. Beyond the border lay the Endless Forest, a highly dangerous place. The elf race lived within the Endless Forest and occasionally came here to trade, which was why the city had been named Forest City.

"Ding! The recommended level for Forest City is 30. Your current level is 12, which does not meet the recommended requirements. However, you possess an Elite Adventurer's Badge and may travel to this city. Confirm travel to Forest City?"

"Confirm!" Su Jiang nodded.

"Ding, traveling to Forest City. Switching scenes, please wait..."

Before long, the darkness before him faded away, and a city filled with blooming flowers appeared before his eyes.

All of it had been planted by order of the city lord to attract elves to trade in the city more often. Elves liked these things.

Su Jiang headed straight for the Adventurer's Guild. Since he was below level thirty, although he could enter this city, he needed to complete a quest to prove to the Adventurer's Guild that he possessed the necessary strength.

Did a game really need such complicated settings? What was the point?

But none of those settings existed without reason.

If someone lacked the strength yet insisted on taking quests beyond their abilities, they would ultimately only add to the burden of the guild and other adventurers.

The Adventurer's Guild also had to consider many factors. In particular, this rule was connected to later game content. When the game began affecting reality, injuries sustained in the game would leave identical wounds on players' real bodies!

"Hello, I am an adventurer who has just arrived in this city. May I accept a quest?" Su Jiang entered the Adventurer's Guild and asked the NPC at the front desk.

"Mm, of course." The attendant smiled. After a pause, seemingly noticing that the adventurer before her was not strong enough, she said, "Adventurer, your strength is not yet sufficient to handle the solo quests here. You need to complete quests with other adventurers first. Once you have earned recognition, we will feel at ease entrusting solo quests to you."

"Ding! You have received the mandatory quest: *Escort Elemental Sprites*"

"Quest description: Elemental sprites often get lost in the forest and wander into human cities. To maintain good relations with the elves, we need to safely escort these little sprites back."

"Quest reward: 3,000 experience points, 10 Silver Coins."

"Quest failure: Your Elite Adventurer's Badge will be reclaimed."

"System prompt: This is a mandatory quest. Abandoning it will count as failure, and you will be expelled from Forest City. Your reputation with the Adventurer's Guild will also decrease."

A series of system notifications sounded.

It was only natural. If he wanted to get ahead of others, he had to bear the pressure of getting ahead.

However, the punishment for this quest was indeed severe. The higher one's level, the harder it was to obtain an Elite Badge.

When a level-one Red-eyed Rabbit was enraged, its attributes increased tenfold. If monsters at his current level were enraged, there was no telling how much their attributes would swell.