"[Collector] wanted to collect relics from the Great Desert."
"And then?"
"A spellcaster brought out the plague source."
"I know."
"He sought the energy contained in the arcane arts."
"Not surprising."
"The plague source went out of control and spread into a plague."
"And the result?"
"We defeated the conspiracy."
"What about the process?"
"We united and defeated the conspiracy."
"That's it?"
"The plague contaminated the Ebony Forest, and the druid elders decided to relocate."
"What about the druids I ran into?"
"They didn't belong to the Ebony Forest. They were from another society."
"Just a bunch of unlucky people infected by the plague?"
"Yes."
"So the gist is—a spellcaster hired by [Collector] to search for treasures in the ruins secretly kept the [plague source] because he coveted the arcane energy inside it. During his research, the plague spread and caused mutations, and you all united to defeat it and preserve world peace?"
Tang Qi kept tapping his pen against the page, tap, tap, without managing to leave a single line of writing. "You know this kind of classic plot was called 'the tried-and-true formula' a few decades ago, and 'clichéd garbage' today? If I wrote it down, it could only go on the same shelf as traditional knight novels—you know, those utterly boring stories about 'defeating the dragon and marrying the princess'?"
"No."
"What I mean is, this story isn't even worth recording. I could write four kilograms of similar plots in a day."
Tang Qi sighed and abandoned the idea of putting it in The Guide or the Journal.
To record a story, he needed to have actually taken part in it.
But the disaster involving the [Minions of the Ebony Forest] and the plague had happened ten years ago. Writing it in the Journal would be a