What You Want

"I think we should have a proper talk..." For some reason, Mermaid Princess Ariel had hidden her tail beneath a long, tube-shaped skirt instead of showing it.

They were in Ariel's palace beneath the lake at the heart of the island. The palace seemed to be built of ice, sparkling and translucent, yet strangely, it wasn't cold inside. Seaweed, shells, and other decorations adorned the place, giving it a rather lovely appearance. What was more, Lu Li and the others seemed unaffected by the water here. They could move, breathe, and speak freely, and even their clothes stayed dry.

The four of them stood not far from Mermaid Princess. At that moment, however, the middle-aged man in his thirties and the woman who had arrived later were both looking at Lu Li with strange expressions. Only the young man who had been meditating with his eyes closed earlier showed no reaction.

Mermaid Princess had suggested that they change clothes earlier, but only Lu Li and the woman who had arrived later had actually changed. The woman now wore a pale blue dress that was clearly high-end, while Lu Li was dressed in an elegant white dress with a floral pattern. He calmly endured the stares of the two people beside him.

"Sure. You said you needed our help, so what exactly do you need us to do?" Lu Li asked with interest. He curiously lifted a foot to see whether the princess dress restricted his movements.

"Please help me. I have to be with William!" Mermaid Princess looked anguished as she swam restlessly nearby. "I was the one who saved William. It couldn't have been that princess from the neighboring country. But from what I've heard, William seems to think she was the one who saved him. That princess must have some scheme in mind if she's pretending to be me. I have to warn William!"

"So you want us to inform Prince William?" Lu Li's question was met with a shake of the head. Mermaid Princess gave a bitter smile. "William won't trust you. He might even think you're spies sent by another country and have you executed."

"Only... only if I appear before William will he believe me. He'll remember me, I'm sure!" Mermaid Princess thought of the kiss they had shared underwater, and of the way they had looked into each other's eyes. Prince William had been a little dazed from lack of oxygen at the time, but she was certain that if she appeared before him again, he would recognize her!

"I want you to go to this place. A powerful Witch lives there. The legend says she knows an incredible black transformation magic that can change one species into another. Please ask the Witch to help me become human." Mermaid Princess spoke earnestly. "That being said you didn't need to pay you, but if you can finish this quickly, I'll still give you a generous reward!"

All four players' prompt windows flashed at the same time:

[Received a phased quest: Seek the Witch's Help.]

[Quest Description: Different species—how are they supposed to fall in love? Prince William isn't into monster girls, so the first step toward marriage is changing species!]

[Quest Requirements: Find the master of transformation—the mysterious Witch—and fulfill her requirements to earn the right to change species.]

[Quest Hint: The mysterious Witch is powerful, far beyond what you can defeat right now. So just focus on fulfilling her requirements...]

[Quest Reward: Poor Mermaid Princess has already paid you, but love makes people blind. Complete the quest to receive one random magical item.]

"I'm sure you all understand now. My attendant will bring a boat shortly to take you away. The map to the Witch's home and some other things will be placed aboard. I hope you can hurry; William's wedding is not far off," Mermaid Princess said. "I'll leave you to it, then. I look forward to your success!"

Mermaid Princess swam off toward the rear palace, leaving the four players behind. The woman who had arrived later cleared her throat and put on a sweet smile. "We're teammates in this instance, so let's introduce ourselves. We'll be fighting side by side from here on out, after all!"

"I'll go first. I'm Gao Xiaowen. I'm in the Implant Path, and I have one active melee skill." The woman tucked her hair behind her ear, looking like a poised, mature city woman. The young man who had been meditating earlier kept a blank expression and simply said, "Hu Wenxu. Alienation Path. Three skills." Then he fell silent.

"Xu Haoran. Inner Demon Path. I currently have two skills, one of which is for scouting." The middle-aged man spoke with a cool expression. "Here's the data I just gathered on the mermaid. I'll share it with you."

"Thanks so much. The beginner test instance came with built-in information scanning, so it's really strange not having it in the regular instances." Gao Xiaowen smiled, then looked at the data Xu Haoran had shared:

[Merfolk (?)]

[Physical Assessment: 2.88; Life Energy Generation: 0.5]

[Soul Assessment: 2.39; Mental Energy Generation: 1.86; Marine Magic: 4.44]

[Category: Physical mutation.]

[Cause: Having received a call from the Great One, they entered the sea and lived alongside fish, becoming half-human, half-fish beings with excellent spell-like abilities...]

[Special Abilities: (1) Surging Currents: Having lived in the sea for many years, they move swiftly underwater and can sense the mysterious forces in the seawater, drawing on marine magic to cast a variety of water-based spells. (2) Siren Song: Merfolk have specially structured vocal cords that let them use magic to produce a bewitching voice. (3) (?)]

[Weaknesses: Fish can't live without water. They have other weaknesses, too, but your scouting level isn't high enough...]

[Monster Evaluation: What a peculiar mermaid! You players probably can't even beat her...]

"Her level is higher than mine, so it's already pretty good that my scouting skill could read this much!" Gao Xiaowen looked a little grave. Mermaid Princess was powerful. Her stats were somewhat higher than theirs, but the most troublesome thing was her spellcasting ability.

A player's strength came from two sources: basic enhancements and skills. In the early stages, players used their skills very rigidly, nowhere near as effectively as the natives in these instances who could cast all kinds of learned spells with magic. As for players, aside from their difficult-to-control enhancement abilities, their skills were fixed, which didn't give them much of an advantage.

"Your turn to introduce yourself. Say a few words," Gao Xiaowen said, looking at Lu Li in his princess dress with a strange expression.

"Just call me Strange Light. I'm a newbie in the Implant Path. My ability is bodily control, and I only have half a skill. It's called Touch of Fear. Any living thing I touch feels fear, but because the module's incomplete, it takes a while to activate. I'm interested in anything interesting. Don't you think it's fun to wear women's clothes once in a while?" Lu Li looked utterly sincere, as if he were one step away from having "I'm a newbie" carved into his face...

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