Stone Spring Village Quest Reward

"What an evil aura?"

When Christian took the item out.

The first feeling it gave Fang Yuan was evil.

Just as Fang Yuan was about to reach out and touch it.

Christian hurriedly said,

"My lord."

"Lady Lilith said this Book of Curses is incomplete."

"The only truly useful part is one of its pages."

"That page fell from the true divine artifact, the Book of Curses."

"For some unknown reason, it was stitched into this fake book."

"Until we find that true Divine Artifact Fragment, Lady Lilith said not to use it."

"Because if the fake page is used to cast a curse, not only will it fail to deal with the enemy, it may instead harm the user."

Hearing this, Fang Yuan hurriedly withdrew his hand.

"Fake?"

"But the evil aura on it doesn't seem fake!"

He asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"My lord, this should be related to the Earthbound Spirit."

"This fake Book of Curses has fused with an Earthbound Spirit."

"I suppose that's why it is called the fake Book of Curses."

"Because the true Book of Curses was once a weapon of the gods."

Fang Yuan nodded slightly.

After concentrating for a moment, he said, "Christian, do you know how to find the Earthbound Spirit and the true Fragment of the Book of Curses?"

"The Earthbound Spirit concerns the Golden Flower Family, and the Fragment of the Book of Curses is also extremely useful to me."

Hearing this request, Christian's face showed an expression that said she knew what to do.

"My lord, the Holy Church's light-element power can force the Earthbound Spirit to reveal itself."

"I suspect that the Earthbound Spirit fused with that true Fragment of the Book of Curses."

"It has relied on the power of the Divine Artifact Fragment to survive for so long."

"As long as we force the Earthbound Spirit to reveal itself, we'll find the true Fragment of the Book of Curses as well."

Hearing this, Fang Yuan extended his hand.

"Begin!"

Upon receiving the order, a holy radiance shone from Christian's eyes.

"It's been a long time since I purified evil."

"O great Lord of the Holy Church~"

Before she could even begin.

A voice came from the Book of Curses on the ground.

"Wait, don't do it!"

"I'll come out on my own!"

The next moment.

A pitch-black spirit floated out of the book.

"The seventy-second-generation Guardian Spirit of the Golden Flower Family greets you, Pioneer Lord."

"Greetings, knight of the Holy Church. Praise the light."

Hearing this form of address, Fang Yuan became puzzled.

"Guardian Spirit?"

"What is that?"

He looked toward Christian.

"My lord, this is a type of magic possessed only by high-ranking families."

"The souls of powerful creatures are collected, their memories erased, and then alchemists refine them into spirits that protect the family."

"It was once very popular across the continent. Later, however, many factions began hunting powerful experts everywhere to create powerful Guardian Spirits. Even Sword Saints and Archmages were killed. This triggered a great war, and afterward, the continent defined it as an evil art and prohibited its use."

"He's the seventy-second generation. Since his intelligence is so strong, he should be one of the earliest batches."

"The ones refined later were all alchemical warriors without intelligence."

Hearing this, Fang Yuan couldn't help feeling surprised.

"This... sounds a bit like modified human warriors. Except that in this magical world, they modify souls!"

"It seems the native Magic Civilization of this land was formidable."

While his thoughts were turning.

He heard Christian say again,

"This is the first time I've seen a Guardian Spirit transformed into an Earthbound Spirit."

"My lord, he may have a story you're interested in."

The story Christian referred to was most likely a clue for unlocking a quest.

Fang Yuan looked at the Guardian Spirit in the distance.

Without wasting any more words, he directly asked,

"Why did you fuse with the Book of Curses and become an Earthbound Spirit? Where did the true Book of Curses go?"

"And since the Golden Flower Family is clearly in central Gondor, why did you appear in the northern frontier?"

Faced with Fang Yuan's questioning.

The Earthbound Spirit suddenly seemed to have triggered a keyword.

He began muttering incoherently.

"Why am I in the northern frontier?"

"Why was I polluted by the Book of Curses?"

"Yes... that's it!"

"I have a mission here."

"My mission... my mission is to find reinforcements!"

"To save the Golden Flower Family Frontier!"

"The territory has been surrounded for three months."

"If no reinforcements come, they'll all die!"

At that moment, a notification sounded beside Fang Yuan's ear.

"Ding, a special token quest, Rescue the Golden Flower Family Frontier, has been triggered. Accept?"

The quest had appeared so quickly.

However, Fang Yuan did not rush.

He looked toward the Earthbound Spirit, who had begun rambling about the events that led up to everything.

It had happened around the year 3000 of the Glory Era.

The Golden Flower Family had sent its most outstanding eldest son to the northern frontier with a group of family members.

There, they opened up the first Pioneer Territory belonging to the Golden Flower Family.

The main reason they had opened up such a territory in the northern frontier was to ease the pressure on the border while also threatening the orc tribes from the flank.

After the territory was established, something strange happened.

The noble lord of the Golden Flower Family Frontier—the family's eldest son—disappeared on a rainy night with the strongest Guardian Knights and mages.

He was gone for a full century.

After losing those people, the Golden Flower Family fell into a development crisis and was repeatedly attacked by beastfolk armies.

Finally, they suffered a crushing defeat in a decisive battle in a river valley.

They lost all their elite forces, leaving the territory completely surrounded.

To seek help, they dispatched an elite squad to protect the youngest son of the Golden Flower Family as he escaped to find reinforcements.

However, they were pursued. In the end, they fought a great battle at Stone Spring Village, outside the Gnoll Tribe's territory.

In the end, the only one who survived by sheer luck was a Guardian Spirit warrior.

Unfortunately, that Guardian Spirit warrior encountered a warlock who practiced curse magic.

Grievously wounded, he was refined into the curse warlock's spellbook.

And this book contained a Fragment of the Book of Curses.

Afterward, the curse warlock occupied Stone Spring Village.

He cast a curse that transformed the villagers into filthy gnolls.

Until—

the Great Calamity arrived, extracting their souls and ultimately freezing everything in place.

Only the Guardian Spirit was fortunate. Protected by a trace of divine artifact power and driven by his obsession with finding reinforcements for the Golden Flower Family, he eventually transformed into an Earthbound Spirit.

He retained his intelligence all the way until now.

Throughout those years, the Earthbound Spirit had constantly tried possessing gnolls to leave and seek reinforcements.

But he had never succeeded.

This continued until Fang Yuan found him.

After learning the whole story.

Fang Yuan connected it with Stone Spring Village's Plea and found that the two could be linked.

"Looks like it's a chain quest."

"Stone Spring Village is the first stage."

"The second stage is the Golden Flower Family Frontier."

"What about the third stage?"

Fang Yuan thought of the missing eldest son of the Golden Flower Family.

"I just don't know how difficult it will be, or what rewards I'll receive after completing it!"

"What if—"

Just as Fang Yuan was hesitating.

The Lord's Mark suddenly transmitted a voice.

"Ding, the Stone Spring Village rescue quest has been settled."

"Ding, all the villagers of Stone Spring Village were killed by the evil curse warlock. Although you completed the quest, unfortunately, they cannot issue you a quest reward. Fortunately, Stone Spring Village remains."

"Ding, accept Stone Spring Village as a Purple Quality Resource Territory reward?"