After a long journey across the countryside, Li Wei finally saw the outline of a lake in the distance. It was the Gassian Lake, the home of the Lake fairies. Li Wei came here a few weeks ago. The landscape did not change at all; there were still a few cottages on the lakeshore.
When Li Wei got closer, he noticed new cottages in constructions. There were few carts full of wood planks and other materials. A few workers were busy setting up the new houses.
As he got closer, Li Wei saw a few fishermen in the distance. They were not fishing at their usual spot due to the constructions taking place; the loud noises would scare away the fish. Li Wei recalled how he was scolded several times when he first came here because of the noise.
He left his horse next to the cottages like last time, just outside Andy's garden. He clearly remembered the kind fisherman who taught him the basics of fishing but did not want to intrude his property.
Li Wei then walked up to the fishermen in the rocky area of the lake. As he expected, with their acute sense of hearing, the fishermen soon noticed his arrival. They were about to warn him to quiet down but stopped themselves when they saw him.
Faint smiles appeared on the fishermen's faces. They all recognized him; he was the winner of the last monthly competition. He caught more fish than many of them combined.
Li Wei waved silently and continued on his way. He had already spotted Andy's silhouette on the tallest rock. The latter waved back and told him to sit down and use the fishing rod.
Li Wei smiled back and grabbed the fishing rod. He was a Grade 1 fisherman. His movements were fluid as he threw the line in front of him. His goal in coming to the Gassian Lake was to fulfill his promise to the Lake Fairies but he had no idea how to actually contact them. As a result, he could only show his presence and hope that they would contact him like last time.
The fishermen did not speak; they did not want to disturb the fishes. Lunchtime would soon arrive. It was then that they would properly welcome Li Wei.
The latter saw a few familiar faces but he also noticed new ones. He did not remember all the fishermen but he knew that the last time he came, they were all NPCs. Now, Li Wei could clearly see four players sitting among the fishermen.
After thirty minutes, a bell rang from the cottages. It was the wives calling their husbands back.
"Time to go! Come have lunch with us, Seven. It has been a while," said Andy as he pulled his fishing rod.
Li Wei smiled back and sent the three salmons he caught into his inventory. He was a bit rusty but his profession was helping him.
"Andy. How are you? I see that the community is growing."
The fisherman nodded. "Come, let me present you our new friends."
Li Wei followed the fisherman and greeted the other NPCs. The players smiled and shook his hands. The four players were all fishermen. They decided that they were tired of playing the game and killing monsters every day. Having accumulated a good amount of gold, they decided to settle in this community; it was precisely their cottages that were being built.
"Hello, Seven. I am Lord Storm and this is my wife, White Feather. We just arrived here a few days ago and immediately fell in love with this place," said one of the players.
"All the NPCs seem to be familiar with you. It looks like they all take you very seriously. What did you do to these NPCs?" asked another player whose IGN was Milkyway.
Li Wei sat around the campfire for a meal and spoke to the players. "I came here a few weeks ago and participated in their fishing competition. I won so now, they kind of respect me."
"Really? How is that possible? We can't even compete with them when they are just fishing casually... Do you have any secrets? We want to improve our fishing skills. In real life, I always dreamed of purchasing a cottage like this and move out of town," asked Lord Storm.
"Haha, no. It was pure luck! But let me ask you. Why did you not go the capital if you want to improve your profession? I heard this is the best place to do so," said Li Wei.
"It's true. If you want to train a profession instead of hunting, it is in your interest to move to the capital. Not only is there a constant stream of material but the environment is also very safe. The system will do everything in its power to keep the capitals away from the flames of war. But it is precisely for this reason that we don't want to go there."
"The capital will be too competitive. Players from several countries will gather there. We are tired from a hectic life where you have to constantly fight for resources. We want to live at our own pace and therefore, chose to move here. It is quieter; very few players come here but according to Andy, there are a few occasional ones that stop here on their way to Abe's forest over there."
Li Wei nodded at the couple's explanation. He knew the capital would be a very competitive place but it was also a place full of opportunities.
"I see that you are still quite invested in the game. If you are looking for a quest, go speak to Andy. He gave us a quest a few days ago but we were not interested in playing the game anymore," said White Feather.
'A quest?' Li Wei's eyes lit up. "Thanks for the info. I'll have a talk with Andy after lunch."
...
"Hey, Andy. I spoke to Lord Storm and White Feather. The community needs some help to deal with some issues?"
"They told you about it? That's right, there's some trouble at the horizon but nothing too urgent. It is better to deal with it before it gets too big. There is an unknown bandit group that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. If you go upstream the river flowing into the Gassian Lake, you will find their camp. It is a massive one, apparently, there are more than five hundred people in there."
"For now, they are not attacking anyone. It seems that they are focusing on taking out the monsters in the territory they claimed but there are a few unfortunate merchants who died under their blades. There is a reasonable distance between the bandit camp and us but we never know. It will be safe to get rid of possible complications. We've requested help from the nearby towns but this kind of requests take time. They should take a few weeks to process our application but we don't know what can happen in two weeks."
'A bandit group?' thought Li Wei. At that moment, he received a system prompt:
[System prompt: You have obtained the quest, "Bandit Extermination". Do you want to accept it?]
[Information]
There is a bandit group building up their strength nearby. Get rid of it before it becomes strong enough to threaten the surrounding communities.
Task: Kill at least 400 bandits.
Completion: (0/400)
Rewards: 40000 exp
Note: This quest can be shared with as many players as you want. The difficulty will increase based on the number of players accepting the quest.
'No wonder that couple did not accept the quest. To complete it, I'll require a lot of assistance but where can I find players to help me? The rewards are not that good either but it will also depend on the strength of the bandits.' Li Wei analyzed the situation and answered:
"Andy. A bandit group is too much for me alone but let me ask my guild to see if they agree to come here."
"Sure."
Li Wei left the fishermen and went to Abe's forest. He was looking for ways to contact the Lake Fairies. They did not attempt to contact him when he was fishing and therefore, he had the idea of returning to the area where he first met a Lake Fairy. At that time, she was healing a gnome and even gave him a quest to look for poison sacs.
At that time, he was only level 11 and had to hide from most monsters in the forest. But now, he was level 18 and could walk leisurely in the forest. The strongest monster there was level 18 but Li Wei was strong enough to deal with them. 'If I see those Scarlet Macaws again... I'll teach them a lesson!
After roaming for a few minutes, Li Wei's inventory was already full of junk items. If there was one thing Abe's forest did not lack, it was resources. All his inventory slots were taken but there were only one or two items of each type. He even had one Shining Alyssum, the same flower he used to upgrade his Ring of Chaos.
Suddenly, Li Wei heard a familiar voice in his head.
"Bad human! You finally decided to come to our lake."
Li Wei jumped in fright and quickly looked around him. He found three Lake Fairies floating above the grass staring at him with their large blue eyes.
"Do you know it is impolite to cut off the communication like that?"
"We even thought you had taken away our precious necklace and left without a word."
"I was almost scolded by my sisters for letting you leave without a formal contract."
The three Lake Fairies continued to argue. Li Wei heard the three voices ring inside his head. He felt dizzy. "Stop. Don't all talk at the same time in my head. I was in danger at that time. You almost got me killed by making the necklace glow."
"Hmmp. Bad Human. You deserved it."
After complaining a little while longer, the Lake Fairies finally moved to the important topic. "Now that you are here. I take it that you are ready to help us?"
Li Wei nodded. "Yes. As long as it is within my power, I will do what I can to help you. But I won't just go and kill myself."
"We don't care, you've already taken our necklace. Now, you need to do your job. It was not what we had in plan but it is good that you are here," said another lake fairy.
"There is a dungeon that appeared shortly after your departure. It is located somewhere along the river. You just have to follow it upstream. We want you to get rid of the dungeon for us. If it stays there, we will eventually be absorbed by it. You just have to destroy its dungeon core or bring it out of the dungeon and we'll consider your part of the deal complete."
[System prompt: You have obtained the quest, "Conquer a dungeon". Do you want to accept it?]
[Information]
There is a dungeon located upstream. Destroy its core before it starts harming the environment
Task: Destroy the dungeon core or bring it out of the dungeon.
Rewards: 40000 exp, Tear of Fairies (already received)
Note: This quest can be shared with as many players as you want. The difficulty will increase based on the number of players accepting the quest.
When Li Wei read the description of the quest, he felt that it was all too familiar. "I am confused about something. Isn't there a bandit group upstream? What about the dungeon? Don't they fight each other?"
The Lake Fairies blinked their eyes as the one at the front spoke." You know about the bandit group? That's good then. The bandit group is the dungeon!"
"What? How is that possible?" asked Li Wei. He was confused. His understanding of dungeons was that it was a place filled with monsters. How did it suddenly become a bandit group?
"A dungeon can have many forms but generally, it all revolves around a dungeon core being protected by its master and the monsters it summons. In the case of the bandit group, the dungeon master was quite smart. He simply ignored building infrastructures like floors and rooms and focused on summoning monsters. And the monsters it summoned were none other than the bandits. Dungeon cores can also summon humans. Although it looks like a bandit camp, its foundation has not changed; it is still a dungeon and relies heavily on the dungeon core. Sooner or later, it will look into absorbing the nearby species and we don't want that to happen."
Li Wei twitched. "Then... What about the strength of that dungeon?"
"A few monsters tried to get rid of it a few days ago, just before I tried to contact you. They failed. According to them, the average level of the bandits is quite low at around twenty and many of them died during the attack. But it also has higher leveled bandits to act as captains."
Li Wei could feel the headache coming. This quest was not going to be easy but at the same time, the rewards were not small. He had two quests that had similar success conditions. He would earn quite a lot if he succeeded and he also did not want to go back on his words with the Lake Fairies. They did help him a lot.
"Should I ask for help at the guild? They normally would not move just to help an outer member complete a quest but what if I bait them with the dungeon. If I say it is an undiscovered dungeon, it might work!" said Li Wei to himself.
'I am not lying or tricking them. It is the truth. I will just send a picture of the quest description to Cai Wenji and see how he reacts.'
The Lake Fairies observed Li Wei's thoughtful expression for a while until he finally broke the silence. "I will contact my friends. I believe I alone am not enough. Will that be alright?"
"Sure but we won't talk to them. If you want to contact us again, just place the Tear of Fairies in the Gassian Lake and we will come to you."