Duma did not use his racial talents, but he easily persuaded the half-tree people to accept Ed's help by virtue of his linguistic advantage.
Hundreds of half-tree beings stood in the ruined cathedral, watching this guy who was an enemy just two days ago now sit in the place where Antiya Lisi had once sat.
The last time they came here, they were transformed by Antiya Lisi. They never expected that they would have to undergo transformation again after only three days, but this time it was for the better.
Ed's roots emerged from the ground, and many of the half-tree people felt a chill.
In their eyes, this was no different from the roots of Antiya Lisi, but their desire to survive compelled them to accept it all.
Ed quickly sensed the physical characteristics of each half-tree and began to use his aura, which could bewitch all plants, to guide the symbiotic plants within these people.
Under Ed's guidance, the overgrown symbiotic plants finally realized that they had ravaged their host's body, and plant tissue began to fill those tiny spaces, much like filling a sponge with tree sap.
The people in the half-tree had their eyes closed, and they did indeed feel something different.
Their once heavy bodies and arms are gradually regaining strength, and their relationship with the symbiotic plants within them no longer seems so irreconcilable; the two sides have become much more harmonious again.
Half an hour later, a somewhat tired Ed sat down in a chair, watching the half-tree people in front of him massage their bodies and feel an unprecedented sense of well-being. He glanced at Duma and said:
"Have the priests carefully screen them. Send those who were originally Holy Crusaders to the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant. As for the remaining half-tree people from commoners... if they want to stay in Fir City, hand them over to the Adventurers' Guild. If they want to start over, then send them to Valhalla."
"Yes, Son of God Highness, I will make the arrangements immediately. Is there anything else you require?"
"After dealing with this matter, notify the higher-ups of the newly formed Holy Crusaders Second Holy See's Crusade; we need to formulate our next strategy."
"Yes, sir."
The underground of Fir City Cathedral.
A player was tirelessly organizing documents here, turning page after page of the heavy bound book. Even with the game system's translation function, he was still struggling to read it.
The reason is simple: many documents have been processed beforehand, with some key sentences or texts blacked out, leaving insufficient space to deduce the full picture.
This player is the one who unlocked the hidden side quest, [ Clear Soup Master ]. The quest description for the hidden side quest is:
[The great battle between Fir City and the Second Holy See is imminent. The cruelly transformed Treant Hunter will inevitably have to join the fight. Try to use your wisdom to save them and explore the true purpose of the Stained Ones faction.]
He had accomplished both: the former by delivering intelligence and capturing the Treant Hunter alive, and the latter by participating in the interrogation of the Grand Knights and obtaining a report that detailed the actions of the Fir City Stained Ones over the years and the meaning behind them.
Yesterday at noon, Fir City was fully liberated, and logically, the side quests should have been completed and the results displayed by then.
However, to his surprise, [ Clear Soup Master ] waited and waited but did not receive the notification that the side quest was over. After ruling out a bug in the game, he had to admit that his side quest was not yet fully completed.
He opened his task panel and examined it carefully before discovering new details.
First of all, Fir City Operation is not the entirety of the third large-scale long-running mission, but only the first phase of it.
The third long quest is titled " The Great Adventurer," and its content repeatedly mentions that players may adventure in various places such as cities, ruins, and ancient sites.
The first phase clearly corresponds to the urban portion of this phase.
From this perspective, the hidden side quest should correspond to the entire third long quest, and Fir City is just the beginning of this side quest.
Judging from the content, rescuing the Treant Hunter goes without saying. Having lurked beneath the cathedral for so long, [ Clear Soup Master ] is certain that he has rescued every single Treant Hunter.
That leaves only the second half of the question: the true purpose of the Stained Ones faction.
[ Clear Soup Master ] already had a considerable understanding of the internal divisions of the Tree Worship Church.
Some more "fundamentalist" Tree Worship Church always adhere to the Holy Scripture and behave more like ascetic priests in reality; these people are called the Pure Ones or the Devout Ones.
Another group intends to bring the Tree God back to life through their own means, even at the cost of sacrificing a large number of their human kin.
These people are called the Stained Ones or the Fallen One.
From this definition, the goal of the Stained Ones is actually to bring the Tree God back to this world, but judging from the side quests, their goals seem to be more complex.
[ Clear Soup Master ] had actually anticipated this. He learned from the Grand Knight Commander under Antiya Lisi that the players were unaware of the existence of Treant Hunter before their attack on Fir City.
After Antiya Lisi used these cyborgs, they privately referred to the Treant Hunter as the Archbishop of Antiya Lisi's private army.
This only shows that Antiya Lisi's purpose is not pure; as for all the Stained Ones, he cannot draw a conclusion for the time being.
But [ Clear Soup Master ] had his own methods. In order to complete this obviously important side quest, he even chose to go offline at the underground archives these past two days, which is how he caught Howard's servant who attempted arson the day before yesterday.
Having dealt with the guy who might interfere with the investigation, [ Clear Soup Master ] encountered a new problem: the alteration of the files that was currently bothering him.
"It's been altered, it's been altered, and it's still been altered!"
He put down the several bound notebooks he was holding and fell into thought.
It's really difficult to do this task alone, but the rewards must be very generous.
But what fascinates him now is no longer the mission rewards, but the mission itself—that is, what the Stained Ones really want to do.
After much deliberation, [ Clear Soup Master ] finally opened the player panel, found his two friends [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] and [ Zhong Lele ] in the search bar, and sent them a message:
"Hidden quest stalled, interested in solving the puzzle together?"