Chapter 1737 – 1737. Savior Of The Academy
“Investigate the Forest of Bewilderment.
Recently, the monsters in the Forest of Bewilderment have drastically decreased. Arinna wants to know the reason. Investigate the Forest of Bewilderment and tell Arinna why the monsters have decreased.
Reward: Experience, Arinna’s Flower.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as I get back, so please wait a little.”
「Quest Accepted.」
The reason I accepted the quest was because the Forest of Bewilderment was a place I had to go to anyway. It’s better to get a quest and collect items and experience at the same time.
‘I probably won’t be able to move on right after the Forest of Bewilderment.’
It was clear that they would try to hold us back with level restrictions like they were doing now. Even if I didn’t know for sure, I would have to hunt in the Forest of Bewilderment for at least a week.
‘And Arinna’s Flower isn’t just a useless item.’
「Arinna’s Flower
Prevents you from getting lost in the Forest of Bewilderment.
The effect is activated by keeping it in your inventory.」
I winked at Seong Hari behind me. She approached the NPC hesitantly and said in awkward Japanese.
“I, I’ll help too.”
“Oh my. I’d be grateful if you would.”
The NPC smiled and gave Seong Hari a quest as well.
The Tera Simulator boasts a high virtual reality implementation rate, but as a game, it has many shortcomings. The most representative of these was the absence of a community system. There was no party system, and no friend registration system. Of course, there was no function to talk with friends either.
‘It’s hard to meet up again once you’re separated from your companions.’
That’s why I was especially careful not to get separated from Seong Hari. It wouldn’t be strange if we were together 24 hours a day.
“Mom. Did you pack potions?”
“I don’t really need to pack them, they’re already piled up in my inventory. Are they really necessary?”
“There might be troublesome monsters ahead.”
Of course, the possibility was small. We had hunted easily in the previous hunting grounds, so there was no way that a monster we couldn’t handle would suddenly appear.
Seong Hari and I went around the village, talking to NPCs about the Forest of Bewilderment. It was to get quests.
“Do you know about the Forest of Bewilderment?”
“The Forest of Bewilderment? It’s a famous forest!”
Most of them repeated the same words in this way. It couldn’t be helped. It was the limit of the NPCs.
At first, I even thought about violating the NPCs secretly. But seeing the doll-like attitude of the NPCs, my interest completely faded.
“Hoo. I lost my child in the Forest of Bewilderment…. I, a hunter, underestimated the Forest of Bewilderment too much.”
Sometimes, NPCs would ramble about things they weren’t even curious about and say other things. In this case, you had to guess the keywords.
“Forest of Bewilderment, hunting, child, keepsake, revenge.”
If one of the keywords was a hit, the NPC would react.
“You’re going into the Forest of Bewilderment? Then could you perhaps find my dead child’s belongings? My child went into the Forest of Bewilderment with a toy… I still haven’t found it.”
“Does a monster have that toy?”
“I don’t know. However, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for a monster to take a toy. Will you find my child’s toy?”
「Child’s Keepsake.
Find the toy that the hunter’s child, who went missing in the Forest of Bewilderment, was playing with and return it to the hunter.
Reward: Experience, Weapon of Bewilderment.」
‘Equipment item quest! It’s here!’
I held back the urge to cheer. It was difficult to get equipment in this virtual reality game. The things sold in stores were all trash. The only useful items were those that dropped from monsters with a low probability and those given as quest rewards.
“Of course, I’ll find it for you.”
“Thank you.”
「Quest Accepted.」
“Mom. You should get a quest too.”
“Ah, okay. What should I say?”
I told Seong Hari the Japanese keywords she needed to say. After that, she and I went around the village. There were no additional quests.
‘If those bastards had shared information, I wouldn’t have had to go through this.’
The students of Caso Academy who had been playing the Tera Simulator for three years already. If they had helped, things would have gone more smoothly. But those guys didn’t even try to talk to us. Ignoring us was the least of it, some of them even glared at us openly or picked fights.
‘They’re such a bunch of jerks.’
「You have entered the Forest of Bewilderment.」
「The status ailment Bewilderment is applied.」
「The probability of getting lost is increased.」
「Perception is lowered.」
「There is a low probability of falling into the status ailment Confusion.」
「There is a low probability of seeing the status ailment Illusion.」
「There is a low probability of experiencing the status ailment Darkness.」
As soon as we entered, a series of notification windows popped up.
Having experienced the world of [God’s Atlantis], I took it in stride, but Seong Hari seemed quite surprised.
“Yujin! My perception really has dropped.”
Seong Hari made a fuss. It was understandable. Suddenly, her perception had dropped, making her feel frustrated. It was like going from an open field to a narrow indoor space.
‘I can only see within a 10m radius.’
Even if I tried to see beyond that, it was too dark.
“Mom. Be careful not to get separated. If we get separated here… you know what I mean, right?”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about Mom.”
We wandered around the Forest of Bewilderment with a relaxed attitude. Even if monsters appeared, we didn’t think for a second that we would be defeated.
We had been wandering around for 20 minutes, but we hadn’t seen a single monster, not even a small animal.
“Yujin. At this rate, it feels like there’s no end. I didn’t realize it when I saw it from outside, but the forest is too big.”
“Is there any other way?”
“It would be better to destroy the forest.”
It was a simple, ignorant, yet clear solution. I didn’t stop Seong Hari. Honestly, I didn’t like this forest either.
Seong Hari drew her sword. A blue aura flickered from her blade. As she concentrated and breathed, the aura became sharper. Then, Seong Hari swung her sword. A huge slash flew in a crescent shape, cutting through the trees. More than ten trees slowly fell to the ground.
“Mom. When did you learn that skill?”
“Skill? I just swung it with force. You can do it too, Yujin.”
“I can… I guess.”
It would take quite a bit of concentration to do it as quickly, accurately, and powerfully as Seong Hari.
We narrowed our eyes as we looked at the fallen trees. Even though the trees had fallen, we still couldn’t see beyond 10m.
“It doesn’t seem like this method will work.”
She sighed, and I shrugged. This world was fake, but it wasn’t so easy.
“We have no choice but to proceed step by step.”
From some point on, I felt a gaze watching us. I turned my head towards the gaze. All I could see were trees.
‘Are they watching us from beyond 10m?’
It was highly likely to be a monster. And we shouldn’t be careless just because it was a monster. The monsters in this world felt like they had much better AI than the NPCs. At least in terms of combat.
I subtly checked Seong Hari’s reaction. I could feel that she was slightly tense. She had noticed the presence of the monster. The hand holding her sword was twitching, as if she wanted to rush out and deal with the monster right away.
“Yujin. You feel it too, right?”
“Mom. Calm down. It might be a trap. Let’s go slowly. Slowly. If we get separated here… you know what I mean, right?”
“I know.”
We slowly moved towards the place where we felt the gaze. Fortunately, we could still feel the gaze.
「The Forest of Bewilderment will obscure your vision for 10 minutes.」
“?!”
In an instant, my vision went dark. I couldn’t see anything. I panicked and flailed my arms and legs.
“Yujin! Why are you suddenly like this?”
Seong Hari grabbed my shoulder tightly.
“I can’t see. I think I’m under a status ailment.”
“That… Cure? Can’t you heal it with that?”
Cure was a skill of the Priest, a support job. Its effect was to remove status ailments. I used Cure on myself.
“Cure.”
Some of my mana disappeared, and my mind became clear. My vision returned for a moment, but it immediately flickered. The world was still dark.
「Cure’s level is too low. You cannot remove the status ailment.」
Only the notification window was clear in the dark world.
“It doesn’t work.”
“It’s okay, Yujin. Mom’s here, right? Mom will protect you.”
Seong Hari grabbed my right hand with her left hand. She held it tightly, interlocking our fingers. It had been a long time since we had held hands like this. What kind of expression was she making now? I couldn’t tell.
“Let’s go slowly.”
I moved as she led me. Then, Seong Hari stopped. I could feel her hand trembling slightly.
I was puzzled. According to my senses, there was nothing within 10m. I was about to call out to Seong Hari when it happened.
Squeeze. At the same time that Seong Hari gripped my hand tightly, someone’s voice was heard.
“Hari. I like you. Please allow me to stand by your side. I swear I won’t hold you back. I will be your support.”
It was a man’s voice. He was spouting things that made me feel bad. I looked to the left where the voice came from and used Cure.
‘Suddenly hitting on someone else’s girl? Let’s see what kind of face that bastard has! Cure!’
「Cure’s level is too low. You cannot remove the status ailment.」
Before, my vision had returned for a moment, but now only the notification window popped up. It was a shame that I couldn’t raise the level of Cure because I didn’t have any skill points.
“You ignorant bitch. Are you showing off just because you’re a little strong?”
It was a spiteful woman’s voice. The jealousy and hatred in her voice were palpable.
“Seong Hari. There’s no reason for you to leave the academy. It’s not your fault. I’ll talk to the headmaster, so just wait a moment.”
This time, it was a familiar voice.
It was definitely the voice of Kang Jiyoung, Seong Hari’s friend and the current headmaster of Maruhan Academy.
“What is your wish?”
A heavy and dignified man’s voice was also heard.
