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Chapter 129: Lost Grea — The Easiest
Sila, Varee, and Bow were strolling around the shopping plaza where many jewelry stalls had been set up. There were many gazes that fell on them, but no one dared to disturb their time after they had just performed a ‘big cleaning’ in the central plaza.
“I understand that they attacked us first, but did we really need to kill all of them?”
“Is that something the one who kept beating up those guys should say? Your method was even more brutal than mine.”
Sila was about to explain to Varee that he was unable to use specific-part qi reinforcement before he changed his mind. Despite how Varee seemed to be trustworthy, he wasn’t that certain. Even Sangdao who he used to trust had secretly observed him behind his back.
“Anyway, I still think that we just unnecessarily made more enemies for us.”
Varee turned her head and stared at Sila. “Do you actually believe that if we had spared their lives, they would obediently stop bothering us?”
Sila scratched his head. Even if he let them live, they would attack him again or even bring their friends to help. “Well, I guess not.”
“See? It’s better to nip them in the bud. At the very least, their level will be lower the next time they try.”
“Just 10 Levels, right? It’s not going to make that much of a difference,” said Sila.
“It leaves a psychological effect. Their defeats will be imprinted into their memory. By the way, the ones who were killed by you might lose 10 levels, but the ones who died by my hand would experience the decrease of 200 Levels without considering the Rank.”
“What does that mean?”
“Um... To put it simply, their Levels will definitely be decreased by 200, ignoring the Rank. For example, if you die at Level 100 Knight Rank, usually, your Level will not be decreased further than Level 1 Knight Rank. However, if you die by my Shadow Moon Sword, your Rank and Level will be decreased to Level 900 Squire Rank. With that, you will have to search for a way to promote your Rank again.”
Sila did a quick calculation in his head. His current Level was Level 50 Marquis Rank. If he were to get killed by Varee and have his Rank drop to Knight, that would be no joke. He wouldn’t want to experience the previous suffering sensation by all means.
Frankly, this was exactly the reason why Varee had become famous. Usually, only high-tier boss monsters were supposed to be able to demote players’ Rank. Being killed by a player, on the other hand, shouldn’t affect their Rank.
This peculiar ability allowed her bounty to rise to the point where she was one of the top ten Most Wanted Players. She was also ranked as one of the most dangerous players to encounter.
Bow enjoyed shopping to her heart’s content. Most of the items she begged Sila to buy were different kinds and colors of ribbons.
Suddenly, it came to Sila that he still had the quest to repair his right arm at the Lost Android Kingdom. As Varee was a psychic type and Grea City was the Android Kingdom, the metropolis of psychic type, she might know something about it.
“Hey, Varee. Do you know about the Lost Android Kingdom?”
Varee didn’t look back at him. She continued to look at Bow as she replied flatly, “Lost Grea City.”
“Lost Grea City?”
“That’s the name of the Lost Android Kingdom. Legend has it that it used to be one with Grea City, but that part of the city was buried underground. Thus, players call it Lost Grea City. Why do you ask?”
“Do you know the method to enter that city?”
“I know. My Orichalcum was smelted there. In this game, if you want to produce a weapon made of Orichalcum, there are only two ways to do that. The first is depending on Lost Grea City’s technology, and the second way is requesting the legendary weaponsmith who lives in Zhongsuyuan, the Qi Kingdom.”
“Zhongsuyuan, the Qi Kingdom?” Sila was imagining how good it would be if he had a chance to visit the Qi Kingdom. Maybe he could find something that would help him improve his qi.
“If you want to produce a weapon from your Orichalcum, I suggest you try your luck at Zhongsuyuan City.”
“Eh? Why? We’re in Grea City. Wouldn’t it be easier for me to go to Lost Grea City?”
“Well, yes, it will be easier. Among the three quests for locating the lost kingdom of each energy type, the quest to access Lost Grea City is by far the easiest. At the same time, it’s the most annoying one. That’s the reason I recommend you try your luck at Zhongsuyuan City.”
Sila opened his system window as he wanted to ask this information from others, like Burapha or Lucy.
“Even if you ask others, you will end up getting the same suggestion,” said Varee without looking at him.
Sila didn’t care about what Varee said as he still tried to contact Burapha and Lucy anyway. It turned out that he still couldn’t contact Burapha, while Lucy said the same thing as Varee.
He asked Lucy why, but she said that she was an NPC so there was a limit to how much information she could give him. Thus, she suggested that Sila ask other players instead.
Varee took the fact that Sila had ignored her suggestion and, not changing her flat tone, asked, “Why do you insist on going to Lost Grea City rather than Zhongsuyuan City? Is it because I’m the one who suggested Zhongsuyuan City?”
The problem was that Sila didn’t plan to produce a weapon as Varee had thought. He planned to repair his arm, and the description on the item clearly stated that the only place he could depend on was the Lost Android Kingdom.
As he remembered that Varee had been with him when he received the quest, he unwrapped the black bandages and showed his right arm to her.
“I’m going to repair my arm. Do you remember? It used to be bigger than this though.”
“Oh, I totally forgot about it. So, Lost Grea City is your only choice, right?”
“Yeah. Since I’m here anyway, I think I better repair it now.”
“By the way, I think you should buy another set of clothing.”
“Nah, my clothing always gets tattered no matter how many times I change it, and I don’t need it that much. I don’t plan on relying on items.”
“I understand what you are trying to say. As for me, I always wear this middle-grade kimono myself. But, I still think you should choose something better than the Beginner Clothing for yourself. Your clothing wouldn’t be tattered if you took better care of it. How about depending on some weapons?”
“I’m more used to fighting barehanded.”
“One against three.”
“What? One against three?” Sila asked with confusion.
“If someone fights barehanded, those are the odds of winning against someone with a weapon. If you fight barehanded, you have to be three times stronger than your weapon-wielding opponent to attain victory. It’s just a rough ratio though.”
“So, I need to be three times stronger than you for me to win against you, don’t I?”
“That’s not certain. I’m better at fighting against players than against monsters and my experience in this regard should be higher than you. So, even if you are three times stronger than me, your victory still won’t be guaranteed. Also, being strong doesn’t mean you will always win.”
Being strong doesn’t mean you will always win?
Sila thought he had heard this line before but he couldn’t remember when. Well, he was more interested in the method to go to Lost Grea City. He planned to go there, repair his arm, visit Master Viola, then come up with a way to obstruct Montra later.
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In other words, that meant Sila was currently clueless about how to stop Montra from winning the war event. If the Elders were told this, they might vomit blood (especially Sanon). Well, Sila had never been the type to plan ahead from the start. Most of the time, he would just depend on his quick wit to survive. Anyone could see that when considering that he always fought against dragons without sufficient preparation.
It could be said that Sila was the polar opposite of Montra. He was too carefree. Someone who tended to let whatever happen. Meanwhile, Montra was too calculative. He always prepared himself for every possible situation. If his plan failed, there would be a backup plan. If his backup plan failed as well, there would be yet another backup.
“I can’t equip a weapon.” Sila honestly told Varee the actual reason he couldn’t use weapons.
“In that case, your only choice is to become stronger. Well, pardon me for saying this, but it does seem impossible for you to be three times stronger than Montra.”
“Nothing is impossible. I’m just a human, and so is Montra...”
Sila shut his mouth briefly as he recalled Sanon’s warnings about Montra’s magic.
“Um... Montra is still counted as a human anyway. Since he is a human, he won’t be perfect. He must have some flaws.”
“So do you, Sila. You are and always will be imperfect. Please don’t forget this fact. While you are searching for Montra’s flaws, Montra could look for yours.”
Sila nodded. “In the end, what about Lost Grea City? Is it easy or difficult to access? I can't tell from the way you speak about it.”
“Very easy. You just buy the seal, stamp it to the gate, then you can enter.”
“Eh? Isn’t that very easy?”
“You’re right. Compared to the other two lost kingdoms, Lost Grea City is the easiest. To enter the Lost Qi Kingdom which no one except Zero has entered, I heard that it is purely up to luck. On the other hand, the Lost Magic Kingdom requires you answer numerous questions, the answers of which are written within a hundred thousand books in the Magic Library.”
Sila considered whether he could finish the other quests. His luck was good as he had Greed Card. However, luck was something uncertain, so it wasn’t guaranteed that he could enter the Lost Qi Kingdom. As for answering the questions that could be anything written in a hundred thousand books, it was a flat-out impossible. No human would be able to do that.
“Yeah, it sounds easier compared to the rest. Why don’t we just go, then?”
“No problem. It’s hard to explain so you have to see for yourself. I will bring you to the gate.”
After Bow had finished purchasing around a hundred ribbons and stored them in Sila’s system window, Varee led him to the area around the north gate.
There was a giant iron gate buried underground. If Sila wasn’t observant enough, he would think that it was just a normal road surface.
“This is it. The gate to Lost Grea City. Through this, you can visit the city.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, just like that. Easy, right?”
Sila was skeptical due to how easy it was. He had believed that the Lost Android Kingdom was a difficult place to visit as it was connected to the quest for the Right Arm of the Sealed One.
By the way, there were no guards blocking the gate, and no one seemed to interest in this gate at all.
“Fine. How can we enter, then? What do we need to do to enter the city?”
“Just stamp the seal into that place. See? And the gate will be opened.” Varee pointed to the groove on the gate.
“Where can I find the seal?”
Varee tossed an iron seal to Sila. “You can have mine. I don’t think I will use it anymore.”
Sila took it and felt like he had seen the corner of Varee’s lips curl up. “Just telling me the method is enough. I can find one for myself.”
“Take mine. I really don’t need it. For more information, just stamp it on the groove and you will know. By the way, I have other things I need to do so I will take my leave. See you again, Bow~”
“Byebye~” As soon as they finished their goodbyes, Varee took out a crystal that Sila realised was a Crystal of Connecting. She then used it and disappeared.
Sila looked at the seal in his hand and decided to use it. “Well, Varee said she would like to give it to me herself.”
He didn’t want to waste time as he needed to log out in the next three days. It would be best if he could finish repairing his right arm before then.
Sila stamped the seal into the groove, and noticed that the size of the stamp matched the groove perfectly. Light flashed from the groove.
He still thought the way to enter was too simple, so he circulated qi throughout his body just in case. There shouldn’t be something that was too easy or free in this world. Varee’s smile when she threw the seal at him also seemed fishy. He wouldn’t be surprised if Varee was pranking him by leaving him to be attacked by a monster behind the door.
Soon, a metallic sound gently went off near Sila’s ears, together with the appearance of a black LCD screen in front of him. The line [Voice Only] appeared on it.
[Greetings, Visitor. Welcome to the gate to Lost Grea City.]
An electronic voice suddenly spoke, startling Sila.
“...Hello.” Sila politely greeted it back. His eyes were still fixated on the LCD screen.
[Your seal has been used. Please accumulate Points again.]
[Press the red button if you need an explanation.]
[Press the green button otherwise.]
Two new buttons appeared on the LCD screen, and Sila immediately pressed the red button.
[The seal to Lost Grea City uses a points system.]
[For entering the city, at least 500 Points are needed.]
[You have spent 10 Points on the explanation. You currently have 4 Points.]
Sila scratched his head. He was sure that he had been pranked by Varee since she didn’t mention any of this to him. He didn’t even know how to collect these points.
“How do I collect Points?”
[Press the red button if you need an explanation.]
[Press the green button otherwise.]
Sila began to understand that he needed to spend 10 more Points for the explanation. Well, he only had 4 Points remaining and they belonged to Varee from the start.
[Points will be awarded when you finish Lost Grea’s exclusive quests. The details will be sent to your system window.]
[You have spent 10 Points for the explanation. You currently have -6 Points.]
The list of quests was added to Sila’s system window. He took a look at them and discovered why Varee had said that it was easy to enter the city. It was because all the quests in the list were trivial; something like delivering goods, conversing with somebody, or performing peculiar activities. For example, there was a quest for a player to perform a gymnastic dance in the middle of Zhongsuyuan City for fifteen minutes or wear the item set “Single Underwear” and travel around the Snow Realm located in the north for seven days. (Sila wondered how a single item was counted as an item set. Unbeknownst to him, this item was an S-grade item.)
For the record, most of the quests gave around 5 Points, which was very little considering the quest’s contents.
“...It’s really easy. No need to depend on luck like the Lost Qi Kingdom or have an exceptional memory like the Lost Magic Kingdom. Only patience and bravery (which Sila labeled as ‘shamelessness’) are enough to enter the city.”
The way to enter Lost Grea City was ranked as the most annoying task of all the quests in Monster Soul. It had stayed at the very top since the game first launched and its rank had never gone down since.