The third quest seemed ordinary. It seemed like all he had to do was undo the seal on the Soul Stone and inject energy into it. However, it had an S- difficulty rating!
Who set up the seal on the Soul Stone?
It was the Lionheart Empire's chief royal alchemist, Falca.
Bai Xiaowen recalled Margaux's diary and confirmed this.
Of course, the Soul Stone had been sealed before. The seal was set up by the nuns in the North County Monastery. After Falca stole the Soul Stone, he held a forbidden ritual in the Plague Rat Cave to undo the original seal and absorb the energy of the Soul Stone before sealing it again.
Even though Falca's profession was alchemy and his combat ability was weak, the seal he set was definitely not something that could be easily broken by any Tom, Dick, or Harry. The person who could undo the seal definitely had to be as strong as Falca.
However, there was another problem. The person who could undo the seal would surely recognize that this was the lost Soul Stone of the North County Monastery.
If he were to report it to the North County Monastery, Bai Xiaowen would either be greeted by a group of fanatical nuns or a woman who was in a rage. That was right, he was referring to Gloria, the female royal knight. If he had known that he would come to the Aaron Dimension, he would not have made such an indecent and totally inappropriate remark toward her earlier. Bai Xiaowen sighed.
If the other party kept the Soul Stone for himself, then Bai Xiaowen knew the fate that awaited him. He would either be thrown into the river to feed the fish or wet cement would be poured into him before he was sunk into the sea.
Besides, even if he could undo the seal, how could he inject energy into it?
"This is such a difficult quest."
Bai Xiaowen muttered to himself as he locked onto the third quest, hovering his finger about the word "choose" and pressing "confirmed"! No venture no gain. One had to take risks to achieve something. As long as he succeeded in the S- Class Advancement Quest, he would definitely have a Hero Class! Furthermore, this quest had appeared because he had obtained the Soul Stone. Without the Soul Stone, he would not be given this option at all!
Possessing the Soul Stone was equivalent to him having an advantage over all other quasi-Awakened! He would be a fool not to choose this option!
Of course, he might also be a fool by choosing this option.
"You have chosen the class advancement quest."
"Class Advancement Quest: Black Soul Stone activated."
"Quest Objective: Unseal the Soul Stone and fill it with Soul Energy. Time Limit: 10 days. Quest Scope: Lionheart Empire's Northern Territory."
"If you fail to complete the quest, you can return at any time when you're not in a combat state."
In Bai Xiaowen's field of vision, a string of numbers began to jump rapidly. It was the ten-day countdown to the end of the quest.
Although the Spiritual Realm was relatively dangerous, if the Awakened was careful, his survival rate was still very high. If they discovered that the quest was too difficult, they could abandon the quest. As long as they were not in a combat state, they could leave the Spiritual Realm.
Of course, this also meant that their Spiritual Realm expedition was fruitless. Abandoning the quest and not being able to advance would bring great losses to those quasi-Awakened. Even for those powerful and experienced Awakened, abandoning a quest was equivalent to wasting a "ticket" to the Spiritual Realm and an opportunity to increase their strength.
Therefore, unless there was no other choice, very few people were willing to give up on the quest.
Bai Xiaowen pushed open the door of the wooden house. The moment he opened the door, the light from the spiritual particles circled around his body.
"Your appearance has been adjusted. Your language has automatically transformed into the common language of the Aaron World."
"Please pay attention to your words. If you expose your identity as a non-Aaron World native, you will have to bear the consequences."
Bai Xiaowen paused for a moment before replying, "Show me my adjusted appearance." As expected, this sentence was spoken fluently in ancient Latin.
An illusory mirror appeared before Bai Xiaowen.
He had blond hair and blue eyes, and his facial features were well-defined. He was a typical handsome Nordic man.
"Do you have to make me look so handsome? I want to be more ordinary, please?" Bai Xiaowen pleaded mentally.
Notification: "Every time you enter a different world, your appearance will be adjusted according to your original appearance. It won't increase or decrease, so it won't affect the Awakened's charm attribute."
"In other words, my original appearance was 100 points, so no matter how my looks change, it will still be 100 points?" Bai Xiaowen stroked his chin shamelessly. "Being too handsome is also a concern. Oh right, why is there a charm attribute? I thought there were only four basic attributes."
Notification: "Luck, Charm, and Will are hidden stats. They will not be displayed."
Pedestrians in groups of twos and threes had already brushed past Bai Xiaowen. Occasionally, someone would turn to glance at Bai Xiaowen.
Bai Xiaowen put away his relaxed thoughts.
"The first thing I have to do is find a place where I can easily gather information on the place and figure out the current situation in the Aaron World," he thought.
Only by gathering enough information could Bai Xiaowen make use of his intelligence and analyze the most promising way to complete the quest. Previously, in the Plague Rat Cave, he managed to snatch the Soul Stone by pitting Gloria and Falca against each other. This was all because of good intelligence gathering. Otherwise, with how small and weak he was, the two Bosses could blow him away with one breath.
This was a human town. Where was a place with the most plentiful and vulgar gossip? Needless to say, it would be a tavern. Without much effort, Bai Xiaowen found a tavern with a banner of a wild mare.
He pushed the door open and entered, bringing with him a cold wind as he entered.
Inside the tavern, flames danced in the fireplace, a bard played a flute, and a few drinkers sat on a row of benches beside him. The interior was as warm as spring, and it was a different world from the cold outside.
"Welcome, guest from afar." The tavern owner was a short and burly old man with a messy beard.
"How do you know I'm not a local?" Bai Xiaowen asked.
"Haha, Old Hunter knows everyone in Elu City!" The tavern owner smiled proudly and pushed a glass of ale over. "This will repel the cold—the first glass is free. If you want the second glass, please prepare your gold coins! Hahahaha!"
Bai Xiaowen, who was penniless, immediately took a liking to this forthright Old Hunter. He slowly sipped his ale as he chatted with Old Hunter. He obtained a lot of useful information from the other party.
The Aaron Continent had been ruled by the Lionheart Empire for more than 300 years.
This was the north of the Aaron Continent. It was a remote area and was the home of the Vikings. 300 years ago, the talented and strategic founding emperor—Tyburn—conquered the north and unified the Aaron Continent. However, today, the Vikings are dissatisfied with the empire's rule. They organized a resistance unit and even once attacked and overtook the capital of the north, North County. Moreover, they even killed the great lord of the north appointed by the empire.
Having to face internal and external threats, the empire hurriedly made peace with their enemy, the High Elves. They freed up their hands and sent the great general, General Alinath, to enter the north to destroy the Rebellion Army.
At one point, Alinath had achieved glorious results and expelled the rebel army from the capital, North County, restoring the Empire's nominal rule over the Northern Territory. The wife of the former Great Lord, Gladys, succeeded him in his title and took over North County. However, the territories in the Northern Territory that had tasted the sweetness of resistance began to spontaneously help the Rebellion Army in battle.
"At present, the Imperial Army and the Rebellion Army have formed two camps in the Northern Territory. If I look at Lionheart Empire from a broader perspective… the empire is having a confrontation with the High Elves. However, that's not something that I ought to be bothered with. I only need to pay attention to the Northern Territory," thought Bai Xiaowen.
As he listened to Old Hunter's ramblings, Bai Xiaowen gradually gained an understanding of the situation in the Aaron World, and his plan gradually became clearer.