World Quest

It's common knowledge that the words "a small favor" are rarely followed by anything good. Unlike excuses like "heaven is about to assign a great task," which can only be used when you're down on your luck, the former usually involves things that have nothing to do with the person in question, but bring a lot of trouble after being "asked" to do it.

If Tan Mo were sitting here, he probably would have gotten up and left as soon as the other party finished speaking, or immediately started planning how to strike first before they could trick him, finding something to drag them down with him...

However, Mo Tan wouldn't have such thoughts at this time. On the contrary, he was hoping to do something for the Sylph Caravan, which had just helped him solve a big problem, so he immediately put on an attentive look: "Please, go ahead."

Yaya, on the other hand, was playing with her fingers with a worried look, muttering, "Not a woof... favor? Not a woof woof favor?"

It seemed that Elder Branchroot was right to bring her along; this girl's watery eyes seemed to be starting to swirl with mosquito coils.

"Many years ago, my clan had an agreement with a group of transcendent beings." Elder Branchroot stroked his chive-like beard, and said in a low voice with the Sylph's unique sharp voice, "Ten thousand years is long enough for us Sylphs, even though we are a long-lived race almost equal to Elves. It's like a story."

Mo Tan nodded, his eyes focused and clear.

"Woof years... woof?" Yaya mumbled in a low voice.

Mo Tan: "..."

"But some time ago, those beings who had disappeared for who knows how many years suddenly contacted us." Elder Branchroot was not disturbed by the barking (…), and continued to play with the chives on his chin, "They want my clan to fulfill our promise, and as soon as possible."

"So the purpose of this caravan is actually..." Mo Tan was smart, and had some basic associations when he heard this.

He had heard Mag say before that the Sylph race rarely set foot outside the forest they lived in, and that their trade with other races had fixed channels and routes. He had hardly heard of them organizing long-distance caravans.

So, although it wasn't exactly big news, it still puzzled that drunkard for quite some time.

And the answer now seemed to be emerging...

"Woof!" Yaya tugged at Mo Tan's sleeve, her expression suddenly becoming excited: "Woof years!"

This girl was simply a mood killer!

Perhaps because he often cared for small animals, Mo Tan subconsciously reached out and patted Yaya's head, then pinched her ears, signaling the dog-girl to be quiet for a while.

Then...

Sorry, there were no sensitive areas, blushing, or other settings. Yaya just obediently shrank her neck and really quieted down.

"Well, let's continue." Elder Branchroot saw that Mo Tan's 'True Tranquil Soothing' was quite effective, so he continued, "As you might think, our purpose this time is to fulfill that past agreement. Sylphs have always been a trustworthy race. Even the favors from ten thousand years ago are always remembered in our roots."

Well... it probably means something similar to 'etched in our hearts'...

"But the journey to complete the mission has not been smooth." Elder Branchroot suddenly looked solemn (Mo Tan guessed), and said in a deep voice, "Because the matter is of great importance, in order to confuse those villains, my clan sent out twenty-one caravans at the same time. Whether it was the route or the scale, they were all different, but they were still all targeted."

Mo Tan frowned slightly: "Villains? Are you talking about... the people who attacked the caravan last time?"

"They are only a part." Elder Branchroot shook his head: "Some time ago, unknown forces suddenly spread rumors throughout the continent, claiming that my clan was about to escort a treasure to a certain place, but the plan could no longer be delayed, so we had to embark on the journey within the set time, and hurriedly thought of this way to confuse the public."

Mo Tan didn't intend to get to the bottom of it, just nodded lightly: "What can I do to help you?"

"The caravan is about to set off again soon." Elder Branchroot said in a low voice: "But no one can guarantee that those greedy chaotic and evil people will come to our door again, so I want to ask you to keep this for me..."

Crack!

The Sylph Elder actually broke off his right arm at this point, and then handed it to Mo Tan.

What's going on? Did he get so excited that he crippled himself? Or is this section of wheat stalk, which is not much thicker, the legendary millennium-old Qilin Arm?

"Uh?" Even the latter's ability to accept things was really not weak, but he was a little confused for a while: "I don't quite understand."

"It would be strange if I, named 'Branchroot', had all my limbs intact." The Sylph Elder chuckled, raised its only remaining left 'hand', and gently swiped the wheat stalk in front of Mo Tan: "It's just a little trick."

A distorted light curtain rippled in front of Mo Tan, and then he heard Yaya, who had been trying to be well-behaved beside him, exclaim 'Aww'.

"Woof-formed!!"

The 'broken arm' after the disguise was removed had completely turned into something else. It looked like a prismatic pure white crystal, with faint blue, green, red, and light gold rays of light emitting from its surface. If you looked closely, you would also find countless lines wandering inside it.

"I hope you can keep this thing for a few days." Branchroot held the crystal in front of Mo Tan, and said solemnly, "Whether it is what I have seen with my own eyes or the feedback from the Mother Tree, they have told me that you are trustworthy."

Mo Tan was, of course, trustworthy at this time, and he was very clear about that. Moreover, now that he thought about it, Elder Branchroot should have seen the scene where he redeemed the beastkin girl before, and the so-called feedback from the Mother Tree might be related to his 'Lawful Good' alignment.

But he still didn't rashly accept it...

"Thank you for your trust." Mo Tan said a little awkwardly: "But my strength may be difficult to complete this task. To be honest, even those Sand Goblins I encountered last time, if there are a few more of them, they might chop me up, so..."

Unexpectedly, Elder Branchroot shook his head: "The target of those villains should only be our Sylph Caravan, so there is no reason to find you. And if this item of the agreement is not in our hands, the other party may not kill us all, after all, Mr. Mag and the others are not weak."

"So you mean." Mo Tan said thoughtfully: "This way you will be much safer?"

"Exactly."

"Okay." Mo Tan finally agreed, took the crystal prism in front of him, which seemed to have a lot of background, and said solemnly: "I will definitely do my best to protect it."

This was in the game, if it were reality, Mo Tan might not dare to accept this thing at this time, for no other reason than to guard against himself...

After all, Mo Tan was capable of accidentally switching personalities and slicing or reselling the things entrusted to him.

[Eternal Crystal]

Unique Quest Item, Equipment

Equipment Restriction: ???

Attributes: ???

Trait: Core Power Source

[Note: In most cases, this thing is useless. It's too heavy to even use as a light source.]

In short, it was – though incomprehensible, it felt profound.

Immediately afterward, a system prompt rang in Mo Tan's ears.

[You have triggered the world quest: Escort the Eternal Crystal. Quest reward: None; Failure penalty: World Decay +3%]

???

Mo Tan suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders!

It didn't matter that there was no quest reward...

But what was this World Decay thing?

It was just accepting a quest, just helping someone out, how did the event level suddenly jump to this height!?

"Someone will come to pick you up in three days," Elder Brokenbranch nodded to Mo Tan, "Then our caravan and Captain Mag will be on our way."

Mo Tan nodded stiffly, at a loss for words for a moment.

After a few more pleasantries, Elder Brokenbranch and his two attendants took their leave, while Mo Tan, under Yaya's adoring gaze, stowed the influential Eternal Crystal into his bag.

Although the latter was slightly regretful that the 'shiny thing was gone', she wasn't too surprised, after all, spatial magic items didn't seem that rare in this world.

After soothing the dog-girl a bit, Mo Tan left the Adventurers' Guild alone. Although the former had a great deal of affection for him, Mo Tan didn't have any intention of making her his bonded companion. First of all, he was a little worried that interacting with Yaya at this time would put her in danger, after all, although Brokenbranch said that this commission was relatively safe, the large-scale attack before still made him a little scared.

Secondly, he was preparing to switch accounts to check on the Fenrir Squad, eager to find a deserted place to log off...

Looking at it from another angle, being offline would also be a great help in protecting that Eternal Crystal thing.

However, a small interlude occurred on the road.

Learning that Mo Tan could no longer travel with the caravan for some reason, Mag stopped him on the road at the first opportunity, instructing Mo Tan to work hard to improve his strength and adventurer level, and to consider joining the Savage Earth Dragon Mercenary Group or something after he became a little stronger, and then stuffed a tool into his hands.

[Safety Ejection Device 2714]

Single-use consumable

Use: Ejects you 'safely'.

[Note: The latest escape device from the Goblin Engineering Alliance, allowing you to quickly get away from danger while enjoying a heartwarming, elegant journey, with absolute safety guaranteed. ps: Don't believe it]

Honestly, if it weren't for that last supplement, Mo Tan felt that he would have been even more grateful to this hearty Dwarf warrior.

The sky grew dark.

[Mental connection detected, synchronizing personal information]

[Connection complete, reading character information]

[Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Hei Fan, loading Innocent World, good night]

When Mo Tan appeared in front of the Fenrir Squad's camp, the Innocent World had already ushered in the night. In the real world, it was already difficult to see the starry sky intertwined into a magnificent spectacle, using the moment of burning life to illuminate a piece of land that was in the distant future for them...

However, despite wanting to linger a little longer, the offline Mo Tan still hurried to the barracks, after all, he knew that he could be kicked offline at any time, and he didn't even know which 'himself' it would be...

Some thoughts during the day made him feel uneasy.

"Yo!" A crisp voice interrupted his increasingly ominous thoughts. Yinna, the sharpest-eyed of the squad, spotted Mo Tan at the first moment and immediately shouted, "Our commander is here."

*Ned, whose upper body had a thick roll of gauze wrapped around his waist, glared at her, then smiled at Mo Tan who was walking over, "Actually, it's okay if you don't come, we're resting these two days."

"I'm a little worried about everyone," Mo Tan shrugged, "So I came to see."

Salazar, whose arm was tightly clamped by a wooden board, shook his head and gave Mo Tan a rather awkward smile while leaning against a wooden stake next to the campfire, "Just a minor injury, it's fine."

"Hey!" Crab, who was almost completely wrapped in bandages, called out dissatisfiedly, "There are people here with serious injuries, okay! Hei Fan, come and help!"

Shuangye, who seemed to have been online all night, snorted softly beside Yinna, "Don't pay attention to that big guy, he's faking it. He wanted to trick me into giving him a massage just now, saying he needed to loosen up his muscles."

"And then~" Mo Tan completely relaxed at this moment, and asked with a smile, "You ignored him?"

"I didn't," Yinna giggled, "Sister Shuangye had Salazar teach her some joint techniques, and then helped Crab loosen his muscles."

The Orc strongman, unable to continue acting, sat up in one fell swoop and sighed with a bitter face, "She almost burned all my hair off with a fireball."

Everyone burst into a relaxed and hearty laugh~

The most efficient way to bring people closer together is to go through some major crises hand in hand...

"Take a good rest for two days, I've already applied for leave for everyone," Ned said, then went into the barracks and took out a small bag, "And this time we've made a small contribution, there's money to be distributed!"

"Hey! Why didn't you say such an important thing earlier!"

"Hei Fan hasn't come yet, and I wanted to keep it a little longer..."

"Tsk tsk, Captain, you're not generous."

"Get out! How many drinks have you sponged off me!"

"Ah~ Specially waiting for Hei Fan to come back~~ How romantic~"

"Yinna, do you believe that I can still hit you even with my injuries!"

"Sister Shuangye, save me!"

"No, don't you think the captain is cute when he's shy..."

"That's going too far, you guys!!"

Somewhere near the edge of Firetooth Territory, not far from Rockpile City.

"Lord Karon! We can prepare to retreat now. The Chieftain says we must bring that mongrel back as soon as possible!"

"What's the rush..." The Orc officer in charge of guarding and escorting a certain fugitive looked up at the starry sky, and said softly, "I'm waiting for that guy to come. He will definitely come. I can feel it. In these few days, soon, it will be soon..."

The heavy tusk battle axe slammed to the ground with a bang, his blood-red eyes filled with resentment and hatred...

"Only blood... can wash away..."

A thunderous battle cry exploded, almost shattering the eardrums of the messenger.

"The humiliation!!"

Chapter 37: The End