rpbooks Chapter 15 : Blood-soaked Soil
Chapter 15 : Blood-soaked Soil
Blood-soaked SoilA few minutes later, Gu Yanxi's record had already reached 17 consecutive wins, but she still showed no intention of coming out, as if she had become addicted to playing.
Seeing that Cecilia was still waiting here, Yuewu began to feel restless. She turned around and asked, "Are you still going to wait? Or... maybe send her a message and ask?"
Ever since her own win streak had been broken by Cecilia last time, Yuewu had spent another whole night, and finally, while Cecilia was not playing in the arena, managed to get her win streak up to over three hundred matches.
With a bit more effort, grinding for another day or two, she could soon obtain the first "legendary mage" title in the entire server–or even the entire world. How could she not be excited?
Cecilia's eyelids drooped slightly. After a moment of thought, she slowly shook her head:
"No need, just let her play if she enjoys it. I happen to have something else to do as well."
What she was referring to was exactly her plan to go to the new map, [Desolate Village], to search for the [Heart of Bloodthirsty Tree].
Last time, after turning into a Darkborn bat and running into the Sawtooth Demon King Crocodile deep in the Mutant Jungle, Cecilia had been left with a considerable psychological shadow.
That boss was simply enormous, its size even comparable to an extended Dongfeng truck. Even now, with her attack already over a thousand, if she didn't make thorough preparations, to be honest, she still wasn't very confident in her heart.
For that very reason, she knew she had to craft the [Magnificent High-grade Vampire Flintlock Pistol] as a secondary weapon as soon as possible.
"All right, then,"
Yuewu nodded.
Cecilia turned and headed outside the lobby. At that moment, Yuewu suddenly received a private message. After just a glance, she hurriedly caught up and stopped Cecilia.
"Wait, there's news about that Heart of Bloodthirsty Tree you asked me to investigate!"
Hearing this, Cecilia instantly perked up, staring into Yuewu's eyes and asking seriously, "Where?"
Yuewu glanced at her private message interface again, then said:
"One of my people received a quest in Desolate Village. The quest requires eliminating a bloodthirsty ancient tree behind the village. It sounds a lot like the Heart of the Bloodthirsty Tree you're looking for, but I can't say for sure if it's the same thing."
"All right, thank you."
Saying that, Cecilia quickened her pace and left the arena lobby.
Regardless of whether this bloodthirsty ancient tree in [Desolate Village] was actually the Heart of Bloodthirsty Tree she was after, having information was always better than having none.
As for whether it was the one or not, wouldn't she know as soon as she had a look?
After exiting the main gates of the arena, Cecilia no longer concealed her speed. In order to get there quickly, she reverted to her old tricks, scampering up a nearby three-story wooden building in a few swift movements, and then, as-nimble as a wildcat, began leaping across the rooftops.
In the past few days, she had been busy leveling up and hadn't paid attention to the Darkborn bat's level. It was still only level 8, with its size unchanged.
Now, as her reputation grew, the map of the world of Kaloran was expanding bit by bit as well. Soon, even travel would take up a lot more time.
Cecilia was considering whether she should first raise her Darkborn bat's level, get it to level 15 as well–then she'd not only have a good combat unit but also a flying mount, and would no longer have to endure the constant staring from onlookers on the street.
The more she thought about it, the more tempting it sounded.
Honestly, what boy could refuse having a flying giant bat as a mount?
This time, without Gu Yanxi holding her back, Cecilia quickly crossed the entire Main City, making her way from the arena in the east district to the city gates on the western side.
The new version of the map not only added a new area to the west, but also brought a lot of popularity to this region. Players at levels 7 and 8 had now become the mainstream force in the game. Upon reaching these levels, most gave up on the level 5 Nightshade Forest and chose to train instead in Desolate Village to the west of the Main City.
Exiting the gates, Cecilia encountered many players on their way to grind levels. Judging by their levels, they were all about level 7 or 8.
Seeing this, Cecilia felt a bit emotional. If only this part of the map had been open when she herself was at that level, she would not have gotten stuck for so long.
But, unless it was absolutely necessary, who would want to take on enemies well above their level?
But, to be honest, she knew there was nothing wrong with the game's system–it was just that her leveling speed was so quick that not even the update speed of the system could keep up.
As she moved farther away from the Main City, the ground beneath Cecilia's feet grew drier, gradually stained with a layer of ominous blood-red color.
At last, when she spotted a dilapidated signpost covered in cobwebs, the voice of System Miss sounded in her mind.
"System notification: You have unlocked a new map—[Desolate Village]!"
What appeared before Cecilia now was a dust-laden, deserted village.
The village was large, its buildings all low, earthen houses. By now, it was nothing but wreckage, overgrown with withered yellow weeds and utter desolation, clearly long abandoned.
No wonder it was called Desolate Village—truly desolate, indeed.
After a moment of pondering, Cecilia suddenly felt something was off.
Desolate Village was its name after abandonment, but what was it called before people left it?
With that thought in mind, Cecilia walked forward a few steps to the rotten signpost, drew her silver dinner knife, and cleared away all the cobwebs blocking her view.
Soon, the true name of the village saw the light of day once more, appearing before her eyes.
—Blood-soaked Soil Village.
Upon seeing this name, Cecilia lowered her head and glanced at the earth beneath her feet. Sure enough, among the yellow-brown was a faint tinge of blood-red—this must be the origin of the name.
Cecilia's instincts told her she was in the right place this time. She just didn't know yet what kind of monsters inhabited this wild area.
She should have checked the forum for information before coming—how careless...
But it didn't really matter. At this stage, aside from high-level world-class bosses, there were almost no monsters capable of harming her. Cecilia quickly gathered her spirits and proceeded along the path into the village.
About 50 meters in, Cecilia saw many players engaged in monster hunting and leveling up. Each class cooperated with clear roles and neat order, having developed decent teamwork after a week of hardship.
She also saw what was apparently the most numerous monster species in this wild area—[Wall-eating Rats].
As the name suggested, wall-eating Rats were enormous compared to normal rats, each as big as a medium-sized dog, level 6 or 7. They couldn't attack from range, had no skills, but appeared in great numbers and moved-nimbly, belonging to the Physical type.
Don't ask Cecilia how she knew.
It wasn't like she had no animals she feared—rats were definitely one of them.