"Hey, wake up," someone pushed me gently, "It's night time."

"Elias, give her some time."

I groaned, pushing myself up from the bed, "It's fine. What do you have in mind, to do?"

"We can stay here," Elias listed, "We have killed a lot of monsters, so we have contributed more than we need to. But we can also go out and get more loot, EXP and money in preparation for whatever the System throws at us for the next Major Event."

I shrugged, "When you put it this way, we should go out and risk-"

Ding!

"-Our lives," I finished, before clicking open the notification that just appeared.

Forest Ground

Category: Quest

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Reward: 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice

Failure: N/A

Completion Condition: This quest needs an explanation, so here it is. You are currently in the City Grounds, the place where everyone starts at. There are other Ground Types, and the Forest Grounds is one of them. As you can see, there aren't many monsters in the Cities, and you have a lot of shelter to hide in. That is why it is the easiest Ground Type. However, at this rate, you won't be growing fast enough to compete with others. Use the Teleportation Crystal you should be able to find in your Inventory to teleport to the Forest Ground. It's not too hard, don't worry, and you will still be in the same area as you are now.

Duration: N/A

"I received a quest," Kaelen broke the silence a few minutes after I finished reading the chunk of text in my quest. I raised an eyebrow. Did all of us get a quest?

"Me too," I hummed, "What is yours about? Mine basically told me to teleport to the Forest Ground."

Elias perked up, "Oh? It told me to do the same thing. We can probably go together. Kaelen?"

"Yes," she nodded, "They must have assigned us the same destination on purpose, or everyone received the same quest."

I pulled up my inventory as I listened to their words, and just like the quest promised, I found an item that was not there before. It was labelled 'Teleportation Crystal: Forest Ground Starting Point', and shone with a soft green light. Deciding to summon it, I mentally called it out and onto my palm. It wasn't very heavy, and the translucent gem gave off a calming scent of leaves, trees, and paper.

"Are we going to follow the quest's instructions?" Elias asked warily as he called his crystal out as well, "We don't know how dangerous the Forest Ground would be."

"You were the one to suggest that we get more items by fighting," I laughed, "But we should be fine. We'll receive a teleportation crystal to come back, and we can use that if there's danger."

We both turned to look at Kaelen, and she easily agreed, her crystal landing on her lap with a soft thud, "We need to get stronger. The First Event shouldn't last longer than 10 days, even if some people refused to or could not fight. We don't know what will be waiting for us once we Integrate, so it would be better to prepare ourselves."

Elias gulped, staring down at his crystal, but eventually, he accepted our reasoning, "Fine. How are we going to use this crystal, though?"

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I thought for a moment. Most of the System's functions I had used so far involved imagining the desired effect taking place, so it was not much of a stretch to assume that this would work the same way. With that in mind, I suggested, "I am not certain, but maybe you can visualize stepping in through a portal, or being surrrounded by a forest, or anything similar to that, and trust that the stone would take you there?"

Now that I said it out loud, it sounded ridiculous, so I added, "I can try to use this method first. If I disappeared, you know that it worked. Also, we should end up in the same spot, so the type of forest you think of should not matter."

There were no objections from my companions, so I gripped the stone tightly in my hand and closed my eyes. The portal option was easier for me, so I imagined the stone manifesting a swirling purple vortex of pure energy, and by entering this portal, I would be able to be transported to the forest. Then, once I had the imagery of the portal firm in my mind, I forced the mental image version of myself to step into the portal, visualizing the experience in detail before having 'myself' land in the destination the crystal had promised.

There was a swooshing noise, and when I reopened my eyes, I was no longer in the room. Instead, I was in a large clearing, with a tall fence surrounding it. The stone was gone, too, leaving no trace of it behind. There were people nearby, too, clustered mostly in groups of two to five, but there were also those who travelled alone. No one attempted to approach me, and I was not the type to walk up to a stranger and ask how they were doing - Kaelen was an exception, and though I had no idea why, I did not regret my decision to include her in my Battle Group.

A ding! noise interrupted my observations, signifying that I have completed the quest. Although I already knew what I got, I still pulled up the notification just so that it does not distract me, since it would keep flashing at the corner of my eyes until I acknowledge it.

'Forest Ground' Quest Completed. Quest Complete Condition reached. You gained 1x Teleportation Crystal to City Grounds, 1x Teleportation Crystal to the location of your choice. You may choose to define the destination of the Customized Teleportation Crystal at any time.

That was a relief. I could make the decision when I was more well-versed with the new world's layout. As I dismissed the notification, I noticed Kaelen pop up beside me. She explained before I had the chance to ask, "Elias is coming, I think. He is just struggling with the visualization thing you suggested."

"Great," I breathed, "This area should be relatively safe. Once he arrives, we can start exploring this forest, but I suggest that we stay close to this starting area if possible. We can return to this place every night. Those fences have to mean something, right?"

She nodded, "I have the same idea. If we are allowed to come back without teleporting here, it would be better to have a safe zone among the danger."

That was a point to consider that I did not think of. If the System did not allow us to exploit this place to take breaks from fighting, or for shelter, it would be harder. There were not any houses here, unlike the City Grounds, so we would be more vulnerable to monster attacks than I was comfortable with.

With a thud, Elias landed in front of us, staggering as he tried to keep his balance. I grabbed him before he could topple over, and once he got his bearings, Kaelen explained our plan to him, summarizing it well enough that I did not need to elaborate. He agreed to it readily, and we started making our way to the front, deciding to check there first for a door or gate. There was one, but there were a few people standing in front of it, and their faces did not look kind. I frowned, walking up to him with Kaelen and Elias behind me.

"Can you please move?" I said, glaring at them, "We are going out."

One of them grinned sneakily at me, but his smile was obviously fake, "Ah, of course. However, as this is the property of the Storm family, you must submit all of your loot to us, and pay an entrance fee of 500-"

I scowled at them, "Hold on, you said this forest is the property of the Storm family?"

"Yes," the same man replied, his eyes glinting with greed, "Come on, pay up. 500 New Gems and we'll let you through. No old currencies, they don't work here. Don't waste our-"

Taking a step further, I growled, "Do not obstruct my path, or you will be crushed."

There was a flare of something in me, a fiery flame that refused to obey anyone and that would scorch anything that dared to stop it. The new facet of my personality felt... right, as if I've had it for a long, long time.

You can create anything, it told me, None of them will ever measure up to a fraction of your future strength.

Distracted by the momentary burst of power, I did not notice the effect my voice had on the those around me. The man who was talking to me took a step back, a sinister look on his face, "Boy, don't try to go against the Storm-"

I interrupted him for the third time in this conversation, "You are nothing compared to the Creator. Let us through and stop being a bother."

Wait, why did I say that? There was no time to ruminate on it, though, because the guards are already charging towards us.