Five hundred Experience Points was no small amount, especially when it had to be paid more than once. Big Watermelon and Melee God of Magic quickly calculated that if they wanted to meet the next Favorability requirement, they would have to spend at least.
7500 Experience Points!
Each!
In the past, they would have been scared off immediately, but now they only hesitated.
There was no doubt that the more they interacted with the Witch, the more they understood that Vivian's quests really did have something sinister about them. They were completely different from those of normal NPCs.
After all, had they ever seen an NPC reclaim most of the quest rewards after handing out a quest?
They had reached a crossroads.
Although they had complained endlessly about Vivian before, they had still gotten her rewards for free. But now, if they wanted to continue receiving more benefits, they clearly had to pay a corresponding price.
Big Watermelon and Melee God of Magic now had two choices. The first was to abandon the quest outright. At worst, the Witch would become enraged and kill them, but the 5000 Experience Points they had gotten for free earlier were already enough to make their efforts worthwhile.
The second was to sacrifice Experience Points to Vivian. Once they did that, it would mean they had truly invested their capital and were completely on board.
It was obvious that the two players were still reluctant to pay when it came down to it, so Liao Zixuan decided to add fuel to the fire.
Ding
Stage Two, "Witch Miss Wants to Eat," has been completed.
You have received 10000 Experience Points.
You have received one "Withered Wood Staff (Fine Grade)."
It has been detected that you have not yet met the special condition "Vivian's Favorability has reached 10 (Indifferent)." Subsequent quests cannot be unlocked.
It was just like gambling.
Only after giving you enough of a taste of the rewards would you willingly continue playing.
"Damn it, let's do it!"
With the 10000 quest-reward Experience Points credited to them, the two players instantly found the courage and confidence to act. They gritted their teeth and began spending Experience Points to purchase Favorability.
You have spent 500 Experience Points. Vivian's Favorability +1. You have spent 500 Experience Points. Vivian's Favorability +1. You have...
As the little girl fed the Wolf Cub while carefully smoothing its fur, Liao Zixuan let out a satisfied whine.
The girl thought her petting skills had improved and smiled foolishly. In reality, what pleased Liao Zixuan even more was the arrival of those two 7500-point rewards, totaling a full 15000 Experience Points.
He poured all the Experience Points he had plucked from the system through the players into himself, directly raising his level by one.
Never underestimate this single level.
For a normal native Dark Flame Wolf pup, going from level 15 at birth to level 16 could take at least a month. After all, the nobler a monster's bloodline, the longer its growth cycle, with everything measured in years.
The Wolf Cub's fur suddenly became glossier and grew longer, while its previously short limbs stretched out slightly. Although it was still a Wolf Cub, it was clearly a little plumper.
For a Dark Flame Wolf, levels 0–20 were its juvenile period. Liao Zixuan's current goal was to get through this period as quickly as possible. Only after entering the growth period could he say that he had truly established a foothold in the world of "Fall of the Gods" and gained the power to stand against those big shots.
Yes, that was right.
A Dark Flame Wolf only needed to reach the "growth period" to sweep aside the vast majority of human forces.
He had previously been five levels away from the major threshold of level 20, but now he was only four levels away. This showed just how important every level was to him.
If things continued at this pace, perhaps Liao Zixuan would be able to enter the "growth period" in less than three months.
However...
Three months was still too long.
The storm stirred up by the wings of his butterfly effect would not wait for him to prepare at his leisure.
Sure enough...
New trouble had already begun watching them in secret and was coming to their door.
Sigh.
After letting out a sigh, Liao Zixuan reluctantly rose from the girl's lap. He first stretched his front paws forward, loosening his muscles and adapting to his grown body.
Then he raised his small wolf head toward a certain spot above the forest where their group was resting.
A dark glint flashed through his amber wolf eyes.
Immediately afterward, there was a crack, like the sound of glass being smashed.
A fracture suddenly appeared in the sky. It grew larger and larger, spreading like a spiderweb, before finally vanishing completely and returning the sky to normal.
"Little Black, what was that just now...?" Vivian was the first to notice Little Black's abnormal behavior, and naturally, she had seen the entire process clearly.
"Someone was using magic to spy on us."
Liao Zixuan thought for a moment, then yawned and added:
"Probably from the moment we first got close to the depths of the forest, right?"
Meanwhile...
In the central region of Claw Forest, within the forbidden zone of all the forest monsters, lay a huge underground lair.
There was an extremely strange scene here.
The enormous cavern was covered with crystalline grass that emitted a purple glow. Though there was no wind, the grass swayed slowly, like the ebb and flow of the tide.
Around the purple crystal grass, more than a dozen figures were bustling about.
Some harvested mature purple grass, packed it into bags, and carried it away. Some transported soil with carts. Others held even smaller cloth bags and continuously scattered something around them.
If all that was still within the realm of acceptability, then the most incongruous and inexplicable thing here was the master of this underground lair.
The Magic Tyrannosaurus named Terror Claw.
Yet at this moment, the tyrannosaurus, which was as large as a mountain, was curled up with its body tucked in, lying in the exact center of the cavern as if hibernating.
Strange patterns that did not belong to it flickered across its rough hide. They were eerie and evil. Although it was asleep, its breathing was unusually rapid, and its heavy snorts filled the entire lair.
If the view were pulled back to look down upon the cavern from above, one would be shocked to discover that this place seemed to be a complex magic array, with the Magic Tyrannosaurus serving as the source of energy for the entire formation.
The magic array hypnotized Terror Claw while stimulating the magic power within its body to rapidly expand and grow stronger. It eventually transformed that power into nourishment, which dispersed into the air and was absorbed by the surrounding purple crystal grass.
"Bishop, the magic vision has been broken."
At the deepest part of the lair, a woman wearing a priestly robe sat lazily in a chair. Her clothing was disheveled, deliberately or otherwise exposing large areas of skin.
Below her, a similarly robed figure, though in clothing of a much lower rank and likely some sort of congregant or deacon, knelt on one knee and reported to the woman in the chair.
"Tsk. I didn't expect that even in a backwater like this, there would be such a powerful Spellcaster." The woman seated at the head gave a soft chuckle. She was known as the Bishop.
"Then... send someone over to kill them."
After speaking, the woman paused briefly. Several seconds later, she suddenly called out to the subordinate who was about to leave.
"The Spellcaster leading them... is she a woman?"
"Yes, Bishop."
"I see..."
"Then kill everyone else. Leave that female Spellcaster alive and bring her to me. I want to meet her." As she spoke, the Bishop unconsciously licked her full, crimson lips.
Before you continue