Welcome Back to the Novice Zone

Etila suddenly stopped.

Ahead was an open expanse of water, shimmering with a faint, deep green light like jade under the sun.

Dead trees ringed the water's edge. She quickly grabbed onto a banyan tree's vine and climbed up. Hanging from the tree, she grasped a vine and gazed into the distance. Then, she let go and dropped down, dusting off her hands. "Stop here, let's rest for a bit," she told the others.

The elven girl's voice was soft, like the gentle afternoon sun filtering through vines onto a desk, illuminating dust motes dancing in the quiet, serene, and comforting air.

The others stopped as well. Jita let out a sigh, unbuckled the large book strapped to her back, and took it off. She leaned her slender frame against a moss-covered rotten log, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Beads of sweat trickled down her arm, steaming in the heat.

"You shouldn't be carrying that broken book," Tian Lan said to him dismissively, fanning herself with one hand. Her fair skin flushed pink. "It's not a real magic book, just a wooden model."

The long summer had passed, but its lingering heat still clung to the land.

"But one day I'll carry a real magic book," Jita replied crisply. "So I need to get used to its weight first."

"I give up on you. At least learn to cheat once in a while," Tian Lan shook her head. "No one will know, right?"

"I know, Luo Yu knows, Miss Fuli knows, and Etila sister knows too. So many people know."

"But we'll help you keep it a secret. You agree, Luo?" she asked, looking at the trainee boy beside her.

Luo Yu, however, shook his head. "The Knight Order's regulations state that we must supervise each other during the pilgrimage. I have a responsibility to report his performance to the examiner."

Tian Lan stared at him in disbelief. "Aren't you friends? Don't you understand what's more important, friends or the guild? Besides, their demands are unreasonable."

Luo Yu frowned, remaining silent.

But Tian Lan pressed on, "Say something!"

The former finally said, with a hint of helplessness, "The supplementary clauses of the Suva Declaration are not suitable for all situations. As members of the Taboris Oak Knights, we understand what the guild needs better than a rigid, dead rule."

The little French girl couldn't help but reach out and touch his forehead. "Are you crazy? You're not even part of the guild's management. It's just a Chosen qualification. Look at what they've put you through." She turned her head. "Brother Ed, tell me, am I right?"

Fang Heng, who was checking the Walker's status nearby, heard this and couldn't help but shake his head.

In the end, he had agreed to Etila's invitation and joined the small team. However, Etila had only invited him to travel back to Elpaxin together. Fang Heng understood that they had likely seen his predicament and were offering help in a subtle way.

Operating near the city, one might not necessarily need an accompanying Alchemist, especially since they were already on their way back.

Of course, Etila must have wanted to thank him for his previous assistance. Otherwise, adventuring parties were generally cautious in the wild and wouldn't easily accept unknown members.

Regarding Tian Lan's question, Fang Heng wisely chose not to speak. He had learned a lot at Dawnstar, one of which was to never take sides when others were arguing.

He mumbled, "By the way, there's a question I've been wanting to ask. Why did those people attack you?"

Seeing that he wasn't supporting her either, Tian Lan felt a bit deflated. She resentfully took a golden statue from her pack. "It's because of this thing."

"Miss Fuli," Jita whispered, shaking her head at her.

Fang Heng looked at him curiously. The little boy quickly lowered his head, startled.

Fang Heng had actually recognized the statue: a Numenor Holy Statue. They were typically carved in the image of feathered serpents, stags, and cats, which the Numenor Elves considered the three most magical animals. Many were unearthed in various ruins and holy temples, but they were usually made of stone. Gold ones were rare.

This thing could sell for tens of thousands of Riser on the market, to native collectors or explorers interested in Numenor ruins. However, it didn't seem worth trading for domesticated Red-brown Elephant-nose Beetles and Crushed Red Crystal.

After all, the value of the former was no less than that of the statue, and the Crushed Red Crystal, which could induce madness in insects through low-frequency resonance, was not cheap either.

"What's the big deal? It's just a worthless broken statue," Tian Lan said dismissively of Jita's caution. Seeing the latter shrink back like an ostrich, she felt a mischievous urge.

She tiptoed over to Jita and pressed her hands against his chest. Jita yelped in surprise, quickly covering his chest with his hands, and his large, thick, clumsy glasses fell off again.

"Hahaha," Tian Lan chuckled with schadenfreude, her prank successful.

Jita's face turned as red as blood, and he looked like he was about to cry.

"Stop bullying Jita," Etila glared at her, annoyed. "That statue is our mission. It can be used to open the gate of the holy temple in Traveler's Forest. Legend has it that the second obelisk is beneath it," she said, walking back from the tree.

Fang Heng subconsciously wanted to ask if her brother had been discovered there, but he realized it was inappropriate before speaking and wisely shut his mouth.

However, if this statue was the key to a crucial mission, it certainly had value worth coveting. Its worth would depend on the richness of the mission itself. If the obelisk was truly related to the Numenor Elven Holy Grail, then this key would undoubtedly be significant.

But it was only one of them, otherwise, even the Major Guilds might be tempted to act.

"Brother Ed, this statue is actually something the Black Goat Merchant Group wants," Tian Lan added at this point.

At the same time, she was holding Jita's heavy glasses and placing them back on his nose. With a nudge of her finger, Jita, who was still teary-eyed, looked at her.

Fang Heng looked at her reaction, which was very unlike that of a boy. He shook his head and asked, "Black Goat Merchant Group?"

"A merchant group under the Kaolin Merchant Alliance. Their leader is a detestable, greedy, and cunning nouveau riche. It's said that in his youth, he obtained permits for military supplies and Magic Devices through connections and made a fortune during the Battle of Bayne. In short, he's an arms dealer—"

After kindly comforting her companion, Tian Lan continued, "His real name is Rune Lincius. This person has considerable influence in Elpaxin. However, he doesn't actually live here. Of course, merchants mostly consider the sky and sea their home, but his mansion and family are all in Goland, the capital of Kaolin."

"He primarily influences the Rainbow Bay region through his business. But for the past twenty years, this guy has been staying at Traveler's Camp every late summer until the winter solstice. He's been acting suspiciously, and I suspect he's known about an obelisk down there for a long time."

It was clear that Tian Lan had a very poor impression of this person. Fang Heng, on the other hand, knew about the Kaolin Merchant Alliance, one of the three major merchant alliances of Kaolin-Ishurian, which controlled ninety percent of the commercial trade in the Sea of Clouds region.

However, he wasn't very familiar with this Black Goat Merchant Group. After all, the Kaolin Merchant Alliance had over a hundred large and small merchant associations and groups beneath it. Chosen who weren't interested in commerce wouldn't pay attention to such matters.

From this, it could be seen that at least Tian Lan, the logistics worker of this team, was competent. Fang Heng thought she must have dealt with this detestable, greedy, and cunning nouveau riche quite a bit.

"Then how much is the reward for this mission?" Fang Heng asked Etila curiously. He thought the elven lady would investigate the matter of the obelisk first after obtaining the statue, as it was related to her brother's mysterious death, rather than completing a mission for some merchant group.

This clearly didn't make sense.

"About a hundred thousand Riser, plus a Wisdom Fruit. That guy's asking price is quite high," Tian Lan said, waving her hand impatiently, as if swatting away a fly when mentioning the person.

This reward was indeed very high. The Jefflitte Redcoats had tricked Dawnstar into a suicide mission and only paid around two hundred thousand. Of course, that was two-thirds as a deposit, and it was likely that no one would ever receive the remaining one-third afterward.

Not to mention there was also a Wisdom Fruit. Wisdom Fruits are essentially experience pages, and like them, only the first use is effective. They are also a lower tier, with each one providing 25,000 Tier 1 experience.

Although the experience gained is in the form of random skills and knowledge, for most people it's a rare and valuable find. This is especially true for newcomers, as it effectively speeds up their growth process.

Even Fang Heng felt a little tempted upon hearing this.

But he was still a bit puzzled, "But aren't you trainees, Miss Etila... you don't seem to need these either?"

"Haha, because what I'm talking about are rewards for ordinary people. As for us and Sister Etila, that stingy guy won't give us a single copper coin in rewards."

"Why is that?" Fang Heng was surprised.

"Because Mr. Kid's body was found by that guy's subordinate adventurer group," Tian Lan replied indignantly. "Only he knows what exactly happened back then. He promised to trade us this information in exchange for us helping him find this statue for free."

"Did he also tell you where the statue was?"

"Yeah, otherwise how could we have found it?"

Fang Heng felt something was off. "If that's the case, why didn't he go get it himself?"

"How should I know?" Tian Lan's expression changed, and she suddenly asked, "Wait a minute, Sister Etila, who was the first to take this statue back then?"

Etila subconsciously looked at the unconscious Paparal crossbowman lying on the ground beside them.

Fang Heng had already walked over and rolled up the man's sleeve. His plump right arm was completely white, with nothing on it. Looking at his left arm, he indeed found a coiled, pitch-black mark like a snake.

"A curse!" Tian Lan exclaimed, gritting her teeth. "That damned, detestable arms dealer."

"Don't worry," Fang Heng replied. "This is just a simple Feathered Serpent Curse. It will bring bad luck to the recipient, but it has no other effects. It will dissipate on its own after a while."

He looked at the unconscious Paparal crossbowman and thought that the mark on this unlucky fellow looked quite striking.

"Everything else is fine," Fang Heng continued. "During this period, it's best to keep him away from any activities like lotteries or treasure chests. The effect of this curse mark is really quite obvious."

Hearing that the problem wasn't serious, Tian Lan finally felt a little relieved. "Hmph, it's good that this guy suffers a bit. Miss Etila clearly said we should check first, but this guy couldn't resist when he saw the treasure. He's just a shorty."

"Thanks to you, Ed." Etila nodded at him.

Fang Heng scratched his head. This was the first time his knowledge from the Second World had come into play. Come to think of it, there were many Numenor Elven ruins in the Second World as well, which was quite strange.

"But I won't let that damned arms dealer go," the French girl added hatefully.

However, Fang Heng was pessimistic. He felt that it would be very difficult for Tian Lan to keep her word. Since the other party was counting on them to bring the statue back, they wouldn't have failed to consider these things beforehand.

Miss Scarpe was very skilled at this tactic of hitting someone and then giving them a sweet date. He had suffered greatly from it before.

However, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

Fang Heng suddenly felt that he was no longer the clueless kid he used to be. At least he now understood how to weigh the pros and cons. This was all thanks to Miss Scarpe's earnest teachings.

"So, are we heading to the Traveler's Camp now?" he asked again.

He had long noticed that the team's direction was wrong. Theoretically, they should be heading south to the Elpaxin region, but this team had been moving east since morning.

"Don't worry," Etila said to him gently. "We're just going there to rest for a bit before we set off for Elpaxin soon."

Fang Heng shook his head. He wasn't in a hurry; he was just asking. Anyway, he was also very curious about the Traveler's Camp. The camp was actually very famous. It was less of a camp and more of an inn located between the Traveler's Forest and Elpaxin.

A very large inn.

"Yeah, Brother Ed," Tian Lan chimed in. "The Traveler's Camp is actually very interesting, and we have to go back to the 'Base' before heading to Elpaxin."

"Base?"

The French girl winked playfully at him. "That's Luo Yu's masterpiece. You'll know when we get there."

The Traveler's Forest was actually an extension of the Egonen Forest.

It had another, more formal name: Traveler's Swamp. This was because the swamp used to be located on the only route between Elpaxin and another city of the Seven Cities of Rainbow Bay, 'Charter City'.

When the group arrived at the edge of the swamp, it was dusk. The swamp was even darker and deeper, filled with thick mist. A dilapidated wooden bridge extended into the fog, with scattered lights in the distance.

They were actually not far from the Traveler's Camp. Tian Lan told him that the lights in the mist were wind lanterns hung by the people at the camp, so the bridge was actually maintained.

Fang Heng realized that if he hadn't met Etila and the others, he would never have imagined that there would be a civilized camp within a day's journey. He felt truly fortunate.

As they approached, a crooked signpost stood by the bridge. The bark was peeling, and it was covered in moss. Three place names were crookedly carved into it with a dagger:

'Traveler's Camp'

'Traveler's Path'

'Traveler's Swamp'

The Traveler's Path was actually the land route to 'Charter City'. However, since 'air transport' had become convenient, this road had been abandoned for a long time. Adventurers now mostly used it as a shortcut to venture into the Traveler's Swamp.

Fang Heng also saw several wooden crosses tied together not far away, with nameless adventurers buried beneath them. Most likely, their companions or passing travelers had helped bury them.

The owners of these tombstones had either returned to reality or had completely embraced the embrace of this world.

For ordinary people, crossing these tombstones symbolized entering a more dangerous high-level area from the 'newbie' area of Elpaxin. But for Fang Heng, it was a bit strange—

Because he was essentially returning to the 'newbie' area from a high-level area.

So when he saw the signpost, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

He had finally returned to where he belonged.

First, I'd like to thank the Alliance Leader "Mei Luo Xia Ke" (Fallen Warrior). Due to the new book period, I'll save the extra updates for after it's officially released. Please remember this for me.

Secondly, the character application post is now open. Those interested can sign up. For the supporting characters, I will prioritize based on the plot and character needs of the story. Some may have their character backgrounds and appearances altered, but their IDs should be retained. Additionally, I will give priority to those who write detailed reviews and discuss the plot in the comment section or on the forum. I also hope everyone can discuss and imagine more about the setting and plot of Aethelria.

Furthermore, at the reminder of the book friend 'Li Ao', I realized that applying weapon and strength-provided damage bonuses to dodge damage is indeed not very realistic. From now on, they will all be considered as additional hit accuracy bonuses provided by weapons (this is an added setting) and melee hit accuracy bonuses provided by strength itself.

Here's the book friend group for those who haven't seen it: 116533817