Magic Farm 183

Chapter 183

To kill fifty evil spiders—the cold, aloof elf hadn’t given him any hints; Dan Xingyu didn’t even know what these evil spiders looked like.

He wanted to ask, but whether the elf was real or just a phantom, it made no difference. After those two lines, it never spoke again.

Dan Xingyu had no choice but to head north.

Fortunately, the evil spiders didn’t make things difficult for him. They were pitch black, shrouded in dark mist, and wherever their long legs passed, the fallen leaves and the ground beneath would corrode away.

They certainly looked evil at first glance.

These things seemed highly poisonous. Dan Xingyu focused his mind and slipped into monster-hunting mode.

As for the other forty-eight people, their experiences were much the same as Dan Xingyu’s: each dropped into a different area, each receiving some strange quest from an elf.

But unlike Dan Xingyu, the others weren’t so quick-witted. Just “meeting an elf” was enough to leave them elated.

Since these really were elves, then the rewards for completing the quests must surely be related to elves, right?

This trip was worth it!

.

Qi Yu was still asleep.

The enormous cocoon enveloping him was steadily channeling energy into his body.

His features were more peaceful than ever before.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten hours passed.

Dan Xingyu, having finally slain the last evil spider in sight, let out a long breath and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, all pretense forgotten.

He pulled a stamina potion from his backpack and downed it, waiting for his strength to return.

The corpse of the giant evil spider had already vanished; all that remained was a pitch-black object, also exuding dark mist.

Without the survival panel’s encyclopedia, he had no idea what it was.

The quest-giving elf NPC was a man of few words. Dan Xingyu had wondered—without any proof, how would the other side know he’d really killed fifty evil spiders?

Now he understood: the dropped item must be the “quest item.”

He rested for about a quarter of an hour.

Then, taking an ordinary longsword from his backpack, he gently flicked the black mist-shrouded object into a nearby wooden box.

Dan Xingyu closed the box and stowed it in his backpack. With something so obviously abnormal and of unknown origin, he certainly wasn’t going to touch it with his bare hands.

Now, the wooden box held exactly fifty pieces. Without delay, he hurried back to find the elf NPC.

The elf NPC opened the box, glanced inside, and his expression softened a little:

“Congratulations on completing the task.”

A green light flew from his body to Dan Xingyu; Dan Xingyu caught it and found it was a shimmering green leaf.

“This is proof of your completed commission. Once all of you have finished your tasks, you may use this item to enter the warehouse and draw a random item as your reward.”

This was the longest sentence the elf NPC had uttered so far.

So it was a lottery system after all.

Dan Xingyu had nothing more to say—he only missed his lucky friend all the more.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Sir Elf, I still have time. Perhaps you could give me another quest?”

The elf ignored him again.

Dan Xingyu thought for a moment, then asked, “I came in here with a friend. Tell me, are we all in the same forest? Will I meet him?”

This time, the elf answered, “Each of you was randomly teleported to a different area. Your tasks are not shared, nor will you meet each other.”

Dan Xingyu asked a few more questions, but the elf seemed to lose patience and disappeared right before his eyes.

Dan Xingyu: “…”

Fine, then.

These long-lived races really were as cold as the legends said.

He didn’t know how the others were progressing with their tasks, but clearly, doing something—anything—was better than just waiting around.

He decided to treat this forest as an area to explore, picked a direction, and set off.

He kept track of the time himself. About nine hours later, the green leaf he’d kept close in his cloak pocket suddenly floated out on its own.

It hovered in the air, glimmering, then began to drift in a certain direction.

It was obviously meant to lead the way, so Dan Xingyu immediately followed.

After about half an hour, the scene before Dan Xingyu’s eyes suddenly opened up.

The gloomy woods were gone; golden sunlight poured down unreservedly on the open ground.

He couldn’t help but look back. Behind him was the same flower-filled meadow—where was the dark forest now?

Soon, one figure after another appeared in succession. Dan Xingyu recognized them as the fifty who’d entered together.

He waited expectantly for Qi Yu to appear.

But one after another, until the forty-first person arrived, no one else came.

A male elf with long golden hair appeared out of thin air before the crowd, smiling faintly:

“…mission.”

He raised his hand, his elegant fingers pointing ahead. “Now, please proceed to the Elven Treasure Vault and select one item from the collection.”

“…You may only choose one. Once chosen, it cannot be changed.”

As he spoke, where his fingertip pointed, a sapling sprouted from the ground.

The sapling grew with the wind, quickly becoming a towering tree that seemed to blot out the sky. At the base of the trunk, a faint green glow shimmered—clearly a barrier or portal of some kind.

Unlike the delight on everyone else’s faces, Dan Xingyu’s expression beneath his hood was rather grim.

He asked, “There were fifty of us who came in together. Now there are only forty-two. Where did the others go?”

Some people rushed impatiently into the giant tree, while others were slower to move.

Hearing his question, someone sneered, “Those who didn’t make it back probably got eaten by monsters. This is the black resource zone, not child’s play—a single misstep and you’re dead.”

“Impossible,” Dan Xingyu denied flatly.

Setting aside all emotional factors, just analyzing it rationally, he didn’t believe anything could have happened to Qi Yu.

First, whether as the lord of the Forest of Stars or as a mage in his own right, it was plain to see that he had deep ties to the elves.

His strength was at least as great as Dan Xingyu’s, if not greater. He even had a semi-artifact. Who knew how many good things the survival game had given him? There was no way he would fail such a basic quest.

Even if, worst case, his luck was bad and he drew a hell-level quest—think back to the last time in Ophir City, when a group of eighth-level powerhouses tried to bully them by force, and the elf teacher behind him intervened directly to intimidate them.

That elf lord cared so much about Qi Yu; he would never just stand by and watch him get hurt.

Even if, by some infinitesimal chance, that elf lord made a rare oversight and failed to notice Qi Yu was in danger—

Qi Yu still had a teleportation scroll.

At worst, if he ran into danger, he could forgo the reward, abandon the resource zone, and teleport straight home.

So, all things considered, the absolute worst-case scenario was that the little mage had teleported back to his territory and missed out on the Elven Treasure Vault’s reward.

He was certain: there was absolutely no way anything had happened to Qi Yu.

The golden-haired elf gave him a meaningful look and said, “Everyone will meet the fate that belongs to them, whether it is rebirth or death.”

“Brave human, please go claim your reward.”

Damn it, still speaking in riddles!

Dan Xingyu knew there was nothing more he could do now, so he could only take the “green leaf key” and enter the treasure vault.

Now, all he could do was hope the twenty-four hours would hurry by, so he could ask Qi Yu what had really happened.

Because his mind was on more important things, even the treasure selection phase—which left everyone else wild with joy—found Dan Xingyu distracted and absent-minded.

Inside the giant tree, the interior was extremely simple.

A garden, filled with countless blooming flowers.

An ethereal voice told them each person could pick one flower.

Only one chance—once picked, the selection was over. When they left, the flower would naturally transform into the corresponding treasure.

Moreover, the treasure would only recognize the person who picked it. If anyone tried to cheat or steal another’s “flower,” it would forever remain just a flower.

This was to prevent people from killing for treasure.

Looking at the endless sea of flowers, Dan Xingyu’s first thought was: What a pity Qi Yu isn’t here.

He would have loved this.

There were so many flowers—most of them species he’d never even heard of. With his mind preoccupied with worry for Qi Yu, Dan Xingyu didn’t really bother to choose carefully.

His gaze swept over the blooms; spotting one that pleased him, he simply picked it.

At the same time—

Qi Yu, sleeping beneath the tree, opened his eyes inside the great green cocoon.

The instant he opened them, his eyes became a startling, crystalline green—so vivid and lush that, on closer inspection, they were almost the same color as the tree he’d been resting against.

But those emerald eyes lasted only a moment before fading away.

And in the instant he awoke, the green cocoon around him melted away like ice and snow. It was as if something had begun: the green tree, the grass, the flowers…

All of it vanished in an instant, and he found himself sitting dazed on the forest floor.

His own memories, washed by a flood of information, gradually returned to him.

He remembered entering the black resource zone with Dan Xingyu, encountering the birth of an elven treasure, entering the ancient well…

Qi Yu suddenly noticed something and looked down. On the index finger of his right hand was a delicate ring.

The band was of jade, carved with the veins of a leaf.

It was a storage ring, and at this moment, it was packed full of items.

Qi Yu’s expression turned odd.

Suddenly, his ears twitched—he heard a sound from far away. Probing with his spiritual power, he caught a hint of joy in his eyes—it was Dan Xingyu.

Wait a minute, no!

Qi Yu was shocked as he realized: are you telling me my ears picked up the distant sound before my spiritual power did?

And it wasn’t just his ears.

His eyes, without relying on spiritual power, could easily make out the veins of leaves a hundred meters away.

His body felt as light as the wind—Qi Yu even sensed that, with a little exertion, he could leap ten meters up into the treetops.

When Dan Xingyu arrived, what he saw was Qi Yu sitting in a pile of fallen leaves, deep in thought.

He was both surprised and delighted. “Qi Yu, what are you doing here?”

He hurried over, unable to help himself: “Why didn’t you go to the Elven Treasure Vault?”

Qi Yu looked up, his expression grave as he regarded Dan Xingyu. “Dan Xingyu, something big has happened.”

His manner was so serious that Dan Xingyu grew nervous as well.

“What is it? What happened?”

Qi Yu suddenly didn’t know how to explain.

Was he supposed to say that the elves of this world seemed to have suffered some kind of cognitive confusion and mistaken him for an elf?

Not only had they stuffed his head full of inherited memories, they’d also given him an entire mountain’s worth of treasures meant to nourish elven children?