Zhan Long

Chapter 40 - The Letter

I prepared my stuff and got ready to leave, but suddenly my steps went heavy and I didn’t go anywhere. I collected my thoughts, and thought for a while. Ah, I remembered. I hadn’t been to the city master of Ba Huang City recently, so I should check that place out. A lot of high level missions were given by those big shots, so there was no harm in checking him out!

With my Ancient Spear, I ran to the hall of the City Master. Unlike the first time I came here, this time, there were many players hanging around, all hoping for a quest and talking to every NPC in the city hall, they even talked to the servants sweeping the floor!

I went up to Ba Huang City’s Master - Duke Luo Lei.

……

With a bushy jet-black beard, Luo Lei looked at me and laughed. His heavy arm pushed against my shoulder while saying, “Young healer, its quite rare to find someone as young as you with such talent. Alright, since its like this, I have a very important mission for you.

“Ding!”

System Notification: Because you have more than 15 charm, you have activated a main quest. Would you like to accept the quest [A Letter]? (Difficulty: AA)

…

A Letter? Difficulty AA?

My eyes widened, this AA quest must be very savage. For a B level quest, I died a few times, so this AA quest would probably kill me over and over again?! But, the quest was right in front of me, how could I give it up? Even if I died over and over again, I would finish this.

I pressed confirm!

“Ding!”

System Notification: You accepted AA difficulty quest [A Letter!]

Quest Description: With Duke Luo Lei’s letter, you must go to the Phoenix Valley to find General Pei stationed there. Give this letter to him, and he will give you your new quest!

……

With a pop, the lambskin letter went into my bag. It emitted a golden glow, indicating that it was a quest item. After giving me the letter, Duke Luo Lei crossed his arms. At a height of 2.5 meters, he looked like a barbarian rather than a Duke. He stared at me and said, “Young man. I haven’t seen that little brat since that faraway expedition 7 years ago. Whether he gets the letter or not depends on you!”

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I furrowed my brows. Hm, although I didn’t understand what Luo Lei just said, if I followed the quest’s instructions, I should be fine. First I would go to the Phoenix Valley, and find General Pei who was stationed there!

Time to go! Destination: Phoenix Valley!

I left out of the northern gate, and scanned the area around me, checking for members of [Wrath of the Heroes]. After all, I didn’t want to be ambushed while doing a mission like last time. Then I immediately took my spear and went into the nearby forest, heading towards Phoenix Valley. It was located North-West of Ba Huang City, near the border and next to the ocean. The map was covered in a crimson color, so that meant the monsters there definitely had a higher level than me. Looking at it, it did seem like some place that NPCs would be in…

I avoided the areas where I saw monsters to keep a low profile. I released Baby Bobo out, and let him sit on my shoulder, curled into a ball. We hid our strength and another player would only see an ordinary player and his pet going through the forest. After a long journey of 50 minutes, I saw a level 33 forest cheetah lying in some bushes, slightly further ahead. This dotted creature seemed very vicious; seemed like I couldn’t just avoid them anymore.

……

Kaa…

The Ancient Spear stabbed through the neck of the forest cheetah. I continued on and saw a small hill. After slipping and tripping up the hill, I finally reached the top of the hill. Looking down, the scene below shocked me. In the large valley, I saw NPC soldiers everywhere. Their camps were uncountable, and the battle horses whined constantly. Waves of knights in black armor passed through, with their battle flags flying in the wind. On the flags were the emblems of Ba Huang City, same as the one on my shoulder. As long as you belonged to Ba Huang City, both players and NPCs had the extra 3% in attack and in defense.

As I went down the hill, I slipped, and lost my footing, rolling down the hill and finally falling into a small river. Far away, a few NPC soldiers laughed, “ Is that little brat an adventurer from Ba Huang City? He’s too clumsy!”

I let the sneers of the NPC pass by me, and while holding my Ancient Spear, I walked deep into the army camps. At the middle, I found the largest tent within the entire camp, surrounded by guards holding swords. Before I even entered the tent, a few people took their swords and pointed them at me, “Halt! Who goes?”

“I’m an ally!”

I show them the emblem on my shoulder, and said, “I am an adventurer from Ba Huang City and under the commands of Duke Luo Lei, I’ve come here to find the General Pei!”

“General Pei?” A guard asked suspiciously, “What’s your proof showing that you were sent by the duke?”

I pulled out the letter, and waved it around, “This, isn’t this enough?”

The guards looked at it for a second. The imperial stamp of Ba Huang city was on the outside of the letter.

“Ok, that’s fine. Come with me!”

He also shot a glance at my spear, and shook his head in disapproval, “These days, healers don’t use staffs but instead use spears, what is going on in the world?”

……

I followed the guard into the huge tent. In the middle of the tent was a huge sand tray. Beside the tray stood a person wearing fire-red armor, it was General Pei!

“General, this person says he has a letter for you from the Duke!”

“Oh?”

Pei smiled a bit, and with his hands on his sheathed sword, he walked up to me and sayid, “Boy, although you’re an adventurer from Ba Huang City, you look pretty weak, I doubt you even have enough strength to tie up a chicken! How did you reach here? From what I know, the Phoenix Valley is surrounded by thorns and monsters, how can a little healer like you…not be eaten by those creatures?”

I took out the letter, and smiled, “If I didn’t get this letter to you, how can I possibly relax and be the food for the creatures?”

“Haha! Well said!”

Receiving the letter, Pei’s face grew dark as he read the letter. He looked at me and said, “This letter seems to be for me, but in reality its for someone else. Do you know about this?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know.”

Pei clenched his teeth, and punched the tray of sand, and muttered, “That selfish little brat!”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Pei’s face was full of anger, and said, “The Duke Luo Lei is one of the country’s most respected warriors. He’s been in countless battles through his life, and the result is that he founded Ba Huang City. He has a son called Luo Lin. Luo Lin was born a genius. When he was 16, he has already been a well known soldier in the country’s special army school. When he was 17 he became a sky knight, and met few rivals. But, when he reached 19, he suddenly left Ba Huang City, disappointing everyone, including his father, and went to a place where no one is willing to go…”

I was surprised, “What place?”

“The Frozen Wastelands…”

“Frozen Wastelands?” I had no idea where that was.

Pei nodded and said, “Within the borders of Ba Huang City, even though there are many beasts that roam freely and many undead, it’s actually not that dangerous. But the area beyond these borders is called the Forbidden Land, where even star class swordsmen have lost their lives. It’s an extremely dangerous place. That brat Luo Lin wanted to train and raise his skills, and went into the Frozen Wastelands alone. We don’t even know if he’s alive or dead. So I don’t even know if this letter can be send to the intended owner. Boy. I can’t let you go to the Frozen Wastelands just to get yourself killed!”

I went silent for a moment and weighed the benefits and the consequences. After a couple seconds, I clenched my fists, “It’s no problem. How can I give up without even trying?”

Pei looked at me, and laughed, “Boy. Your attitude reminds me of my younger self back when I was still carefree and fearless. That’s fine, but you must show me your strength so I can trust that you can go alone in the Frozen Wastelands!”

I nodded, “Fine!”

“Ding!”

System Notification: Your AA level quest has changed into [Proof of Strength]!

Quest Description: In the maple forest located south of the Phoenix Valley, there is a group of bandits that always rob the nearby villages. When you find the bandits, kill at least 100 of them, and find their tomb robbing logs, pages 1-7. When you bring it back to General Pei, you will receive a grand prize and prove your strength to General Pei!

……

I got the mission and left immediately. Summoning Baby Bobo, we headed towards the south-west part of the Phoenix Valley. After about 5 minutes, the forests ahead suddenly turned into a fire-red color. We had reached the maple forest! The whole sky, full of falling maple leaves, made me want to just sit down and enjoy the sight. But further within the forest I saw lines of smoke snaking out, and tents lined up one after another. Around each tent were 10 or so bandits.

I inched my way forward, and checked out the stats of the bandits——

【Bloody Bandits】（Ordinary Monster）

Level:35

Damage: ???

Defense: ???

Health: ???

Skills:???

Description: A group of bloodthirsty bandits.

……

A level 35 monster, that only made them seem savage. From afar, I called Baby Bobo, and that little guy honed in onto a bandit that was all alone!

After [Combo] and [Stinger], the bandit’s health dropped over 700 points, but that was not enough. A level 35 monster usually had 1700 or so HP, so they weren’t killed that easily.

“Crap, intruders!!”

After being attacked, the lone bandit alerted the bandits around him, and quickly, the nearest bandit woke up and together they attacked Bobo!

I didn’t act arrogantly and quickly used [Hemostasis] to recover Baby Bobo’s health. At the same time, I readied my spear and helped Bobo fight the bandits. After a couple rounds of brawling, the two bandits finally fall. But my mana was pretty much spent. Man, it took a lot of effort to kill high leveled monsters.

Pa Ta!

When the second bandit died, a sheepskin was left behind. After picking it up, I realized that it was the third page of the [Grave Robber’s Log]. On it, “Today we dug yet another grave. Inside the grave were bronze cauldrons, but sadly they’re mostly broken, or else I would have sold it for a few gold pieces, and maybe I could have even gotten married.”

……

I threw the log into my bag, and my mouth twitched a bit. Continue!

The bandits’ levels were high, and the experience they give was obviously high as well. After 2 hours, I rose to level 28. At the same time, I killed a bunch of bandits, and they dropped log pages 1-6. I only needed the last one.

……

While I was killing the bandits, I suddenly saw a few blue dots on the minimap far away, players were coming!

……

Sasasasa…

The maple leaves separated, and a beautiful shadow holding a dagger came into the forest. She bent slightly and quickly disappeared in the air. In that moment though, I saw her ID——Yan Suo!

Out of all the players possible, [Wrath of the Heroes] sent theirs again!