Escorting Elemental Sprites

After accepting the quest, a crowd quickly gathered in front of the Adventurer's Guild.

According to the quest prompt, these people were his companions. Generally, for quests that required a team, if a solo player accepted it, the system would arrange NPCs or other players who had also accepted the quest as companions.

A quest to escort something to a certain place was essentially a small-scale dungeon quest. Monsters would attack continuously along the way, making it difficult for ordinary players to complete.

Moreover, the monsters encountered in this quest were not scaled down to Su Jiang's low level.

As the saying goes, being one step ahead comes with the responsibility of being one step ahead.

The monsters faced in this quest were all level 30!

Su Jiang, having transformed into Kurumi in the shadows, then appeared before them.

Currently, no players could come to this town yet, so Kurumi wasn't worried about anyone recognizing her appearance or filming her existence and uploading it online.

Kurumi stepped forward and greeted them. She saw surprise and admiration in their eyes, along with a hint of disdain.

With over a decade of gaming experience, Kurumi knew that these NPCs thought she was just here to gain some easy achievements.

Kurumi didn't argue. After getting acquainted with them, she quietly sat aside to wait for the Elemental Association to deliver the Elemental Sprite.

The Elemental Association was different from the Adventurer's Guild. The Adventurer's Guild allowed adventurers to join other associations, but the Elemental Association did not. Therefore, the Elemental Association often found the Adventurer's Guild to handle matters they didn't want to deal with themselves.

After waiting for a while.

A tall, thin NPC wearing a black mage robe walked over. His complexion was fair, and his ears were slightly pointed.

He was a half-elf.

The offspring of a union between humans and elves.

Kurumi hadn't expected the quest giver to be a half-elf.

In the world setting of "Meta World," half-elves were not a group discriminated against by both humans and elves, but rather an important link for communication between humans and elves.

After all, without genuine affection, how could two different races like humans and elves produce offspring?

As for the true elf race, they equally disdained all races, only showing a slight reduction in their arrogance when facing half-elves.

The elf race possessed the largest territory, extremely abundant resources, and they were born with a talent: the Heart of Nature. This allowed them to move freely within forests, never get lost, and simultaneously reduce the hostility of monsters.

If one could build a good relationship with a half-elf, adventures in the forest would be twice as effective, and it would also be possible to enter high-level areas that were currently impossible to reach: the Dawn Elf Empire!

The leading NPC respectfully stepped forward: "Hello, Mr. Half-elf. We are the escort team arranged by the Adventurer's Guild. May I ask where the Elemental Sprite we need to escort is?"

"Just you guys?" the half-elf asked incredulously.

"Our team's quest completion rate is as high as 67%. I'm sure the Guild trusts us, which is why they let us take on this quest. Furthermore, according to Adventurer's Guild statistics, no powerful monsters have appeared in the escort Elemental Sprite quests completed this year," the leader said with a smile.

"Hmph."

The half-elf still looked unconvinced.

The NPC leading the quest was only level 35, and the other accompanying NPCs were between levels 30-35. Moreover, there was Kurumi, who was level 12. It was understandable that he didn't trust them.

The half-elf surveyed the dozen or so people who had accepted the quest.

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he walked towards Kurumi, saying, "I've heard of you. Some old guys in the Guild mentioned a young girl in a black and red dress who single-handedly dealt with a subordinate of the Fear Deity. Is that you?"

Did this news spread so quickly?

Kurumi was a little taken aback. After thinking about it, she realized it was likely due to her reputation.

"It was me."

"In that case, the escort target will be entrusted to you. I believe in your strength," the half-elf said seriously.

The leading NPC also nodded at Kurumi, signaling her to accept.

Kurumi quickly replied, "Okay, I will do my best to protect the Elemental Sprite."

"System prompt: Due to your 300 reputation points with the Carron Empire, the Elemental Association's Mage [Patrick] recognizes your strength and has decided to entrust the Elemental Sprite [Axi] to your protection."

"Quest prompt: Elemental Sprites easily attract the attention of monsters. Please be careful and cautious on the journey. If you successfully escort [Axi] to the destination, the Elemental Sprite will reward you."

She had initially thought she would be a minor character just tagging along, but now she had become the main beneficiary of the quest!

Kurumi was a little surprised.

It seemed that the Carron Empire's reputation was indeed very significant.

After thinking about it, it was actually normal. After all, living within the Carron Empire, if one didn't acknowledge the Empire's reputation, what else would they acknowledge?

Of course, this was also partly due to Kurumi's stats being off the charts. NPCs could roughly sense a player's strength, and Kurumi's transformed level 12 stats were actually slightly higher than those of an ordinary level 27 player.

Patrick soon released a small elf with membranous wings, wearing a miniature outfit. She flew to Kurumi's side, ready to obey Kurumi's commands.

"Aiya!"

The little elf fluttered her wings in the air, did a few flips, and happily responded.

The half-elf had other matters to attend to and left.

"Since Mr. Half-elf trusts you, you should be the leader then?"

As soon as the leader finished speaking, several unrestrained gazes swept over Kurumi, clearly questioning her strength.

Kurumi immediately refused. She just wanted to complete this quest quickly and then go solo.

The leader didn't speak, directly leading everyone towards their destination.

After passing through several streets, the group arrived at the exit of Forest City.

After submitting their quest proof and exit permits, Kurumi and the accompanying NPCs smoothly reached a dense forest.

The area before them was lush and verdant. Upon entering, the light grew dim, overgrown with weeds, and only a narrow path with faint footprints was hidden within.

Following this path, they would reach their destination in about half a day.

This forest stretched for tens of thousands of miles. Besides being the location of the Dawn Elf Empire, it was also a habitat for all monsters.

Therefore, along the way, they would have to deal with monsters hidden within the forest.

"Aww~"

The little sprite, upon seeing the forest, chirped with sparkling eyes, excitedly flapping its wings.

However, due to the half-elf's instructions, it didn't stray too far from Kurumi.

"Newcomer, protect this little sprite well. If you absolutely can't, you can give up. There are many enemies in this forest; if you don't want to die, stay extremely vigilant," one of the accompanying NPCs said to Kurumi, their face showing a look of caution.

"Enemies? Aren't there only monsters?" Kurumi glanced at the elemental sprite floating beside her.

Elemental sprites were like a delicacy to monsters; after consuming them, monsters had a chance to evolve or learn skills.

This was a small trick that some pet class players had researched in the future.

Kurumi remembered this.

"If it were just monsters, it would be manageable, but I'm afraid of..." The NPC let out a cold laugh and then fell silent.