CHAPTER 67 - PLAYERS ALWAYS HAVE ROCKIN' LUCK

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I set up a proper schedule for my apprentices to take turns taking care of the [Lizardwings]. I thought they would complain, but I was quite pleased to know that they were very eager to help.

It was only a few days until the autumn harvest season and everything was going great when I got a pop-up message from the System.

[Investigate the Emberstone]

Oh! The farm was called “Emberstone Farm” because that was what the System suggested, and I couldn’t think of a good name for it. I was quite surprised to learn that there was an actual Emberstone somewhere around here.

I was in the middle of watering the vegetables, and it didn’t seem like the quest was urgent, therefore I finished my current task first before turning on the [Guide Mode].

Bright yellow dots appeared on the ground and disappeared into the forest. I checked the System Map and saw that the quest location was some distance away.

“I’m going for a walk in the forest, and I won’t be back for lunch,” I said to my apprentices.

They waved goodbye as I followed the yellow dots. It’s a good thing I was wearing my most comfortable boots today, since it looked like I was going to do a lot of walking.

[Investigate the Emberstone:

Deep in the forest is a mysterious stone. Explore the surrounding area and uncover its secrets.]

The quest text didn’t give me much information, nor did it reveal what the reward would be.

I strolled through the woods at a moderate pace, red and orange leaves crunching beneath my feet. The days were starting to become cooler, which meant that I had to find thicker robes from the Cash Shop or layer the thinner robes on top of each other. Soon I would have to turn on the house’s central heating.

As I walked, the forest canopy above me became thicker and thicker and the sunlight that dappled the ground became fainter and fainter until it became difficult for me to see what was in front of me. The ever-present rustling of the leaves, the chirping of the birds, the humming of the insects, and other sounds of the forest grew softer and softer until I was enveloped in an eerie silence.

“Ah…” This was starting to get scary. Time to run away!

I turned back and followed the yellow dots out of the forest.

Since Adventure Incarnate started off as a farming game, the developers were careful to not tick off their players by surprising them with combat content in quests. Humans in this setting were quite fragile and could easily die if they had to fight something when they were unarmored and unprepared. I mean, quests sometimes involved combat, but players were warned in advance when they needed to gear up.

Nevertheless, this was no longer a game, which meant that I should be even more careful than I would be in Adventure Incarnate. I liked to think that I was a smart person, and it seemed to me that it would be idiotic to walk into that scary place by myself.

I’ll wait for either Shuye or Prince Baiyu to visit and ask them to accompany me while I investigated the secret behind the Emberstone.

***

Two days later, I followed the yellow dot road with Shuye.

My bear-like Farm Guide loomed behind me as he shadowed my steps, a comforting presence amidst the eeriness of the shadowy and silent glade. Even the crunching of the leaves beneath our feet seemed muffled and distant.

“It’s right ahead,” I said. I could see a large, glowing yellow arrow pointing at a spot a few meters ahead.

Shuye put his large, heavy hand on my shoulder and walked ahead of me a few steps. His head moved from left to right as he scanned the clearing for danger, then he nodded at me, indicating that it was safe for me to continue walking.

I cleared my throat. “There’s probably nothing here. Why don’t you turn back?”

Now that we were actually here, I had second thoughts about bringing Shuye with me. After all, the quest was probably safe for me, however, I had no idea if the same was true of Shuye. What if something happened to him? I would never be able to forgive myself.

“I’ll turn back if you will.” Shuye gave me an inquiring look.

I scratched my head and dithered a bit before finally deciding to continue. The chances were low that this was actually dangerous, despite the creepiness of the place. “Eh, we’re here, so we might as well look.”

“Are you really not going to tell me how you know that there’s something here?” asked Shuye.

“I just have a feeling…”

Shuye just shook his head, but didn’t pry any further.

We walked on until I saw the target, a large, moss-and-vine-covered rock in the middle of the glade. I took a pair of scissors from my inventory and carefully cut away the vines, revealing a large white stone. When I used a handkerchief to wipe away some of the moss, we saw that the surface was glossy and smooth, like white glass.

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“Were you looking for this rock?” asked Shuye.

“You know how my farm is called ‘Emberstone Farm?’ I think this could be the Emberstone,” I said.

“This? It’s white. Surely, if this was named, it would be called something like ‘Pearl Stone’ or something similar.” Shuye patted the exposed part of the white stone.

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound. I felt something grab me by the waist, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself flying through the air.

“Kyaa!” I screamed in shock.

“Sorry,” said Shuye. “I reacted instinctively.”

We were hovering ten feet above the ground, with Shuye holding me by the waist while I clung to his arm.

“What happened?” I looked down and saw that the rock had split right in the middle, revealing a bright red interior. “Did you just crack it open?”

“No, it wasn’t me. I just patted it lightly.”

“Why don’t you put me down? It doesn’t look dangerous.”

“I’ll put you down at the edge of the clearing. Don’t approach until I give you the go-ahead,” said Shuye.

I nodded, and he slowly descended until our feet touched the ground. I waited patiently as he cautiously circled the stone, checking for anything dangerous or unusual. Once he was satisfied that nothing further was going to happen, he waved his hand, and I approached.

“You see, it is an Emberstone. The inside is red as fire,” I said.

“I wonder what caused it to crack.”

“There was probably just normal weathering,” I said. “Let’s look around a little, okay?”

“Don’t move out of my sight.”

“Of course.”

[Investigate the Emberstone:

Deep in the forest is a mysterious stone. Explore the surrounding area and uncover its secrets. (Done)

Check the Emberstone glade for clues.]

I kept my eyes open for anything that looked like a clue. I found a lot of miscellaneous items on the forest floor, like a broken arrow, shards of a clay pot, animal bones, shells, iron nails, and a small piece of leather. Shuye was the one who found the clue.

“Here’s something,” he said, pointing at a massive stone tablet that he had unearthed from a pile of leaves.

“Oooh! How exciting!” I scampered over and knelt on the ground to read the words engraved on it. “Be warned: the monster lies dormant, sealed within the Emberstone. Let not the stone be broken, lest the world be cast into darkness.”

I looked up and saw that Shuye had turned pale.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s just a prank, or something like that,” I said.

Once again, I regretted that I had been too cowardly to do the quest on my own. Poor Shuye.

“A prank?” He gave me a hopeful look.

“Hmm, the bottom part of the tablet seems to have been broken off. Let’s try to look for it,” I said.

“Yes, we should.”

After a few minutes of searching, we found the rest of the tablet nearby. It contained the name of the person who had written the message: Hoshi XXIV.

“I recognize that name,” said Shuye. “It’s the name of the head priest of the Temple of the Fox Clan.”

“Then we know who to ask about this rock.”

It was only midmorning, so we decided that we had enough time to go to the temple before sunset. We walked back to the house, and Shuye flew away to fetch his flying cart because I wouldn’t feel comfortable flying all the way to the temple in his arms.

[Investigate the Emberstone:

Deep in the forest is a mysterious stone. Explore the surrounding area and uncover its secrets. (Done)

Check the Emberstone glade for clues. (Done)

Go to the Temple of the Fox Clan and ask them about the stone. Bring five slices of double-fried tofu as an offering.]

I retreated to my room in the inner courtyard of the main house and shook my head at the Adventure Incarnate developers’ greed. The words "double-fried tofu” in the quest text were colored blue and underlined. When I clicked on the name of the food, I found a recipe and an item that I could buy in the Cash Shop.

It was a sad day when Adventure Incarnate was taken over by a group of investors who monetized every aspect of the game. The original developers would never have given players a Cash Shop shortcut like this.

Nonetheless, given the fact that I had never grown soybeans, it was lucky for me that I could just buy the required items. I recognized the “double-fried tofu” as the Japanese abura-age, which was allegedly the favorite food of the legendary foxes creatures called kitsune. I made sure to buy a whole bunch of the food in case I needed more. Adventure Incarnate developers were legendary for their greed, and since the item was available in the Cash Shop, I was sure that they would try to maximize their profit by making it so that players could use more than one set of five pieces.

Since we were going to visit the Fox clan’s temple, I changed into a nicer set of robes when I got back to the house, and asked Fengying to serve an early lunch. Shuye arrived just as I was finishing my dessert, peaches in a honey sauce.

***

Traveling using my nice new carriage was much better than when we used the flying ox cart. It only took a few minutes before we found ourselves in a clearing in the forest in front of a steep stone staircase that had been carved on the side of a tree-covered hill. At the top of the staircase was a freestanding white stone wall with a circular opening, like the moon gates that I often saw in Chinese gardens. That must be the entrance to the temple.

Taking a deep breath, I inhaled fresh air redolent with the scents of the forest, a heady mix of decaying leaves, damp earth, and wood smoke. The latter made me wonder if we were near any human habitation. I opened the System map and saw that we were south of the farm. The hill was labeled “Fox Hill” and slightly below it on the map was “Fox Clan Village.”

“The temple is at the top of those stairs,” said Shuye.

“So the Fox clan live up there?” I asked.

“No, they have a village on the other side of the hill, but that is private land. We can’t go there unless we have an invitation or business with the clan,” said Shuye.

“That’s too bad. I would’ve liked to see how they live.”

“I’ve told you before, we’re mostly human. The Fox Clan village looks just like a human village,” said Shuye.

Somehow, I doubted that. In the game, all the clans had very colorful and prosperous-looking headquarters.

We walked over to the staircase, and I sighed as I looked down at my dainty silk shoes and mint-green robes. If I’d known I was going to be climbing mountains, I wouldn’t have changed into prettier clothing.

Shuye scratched his head. “Do you want me to carry you up?”

“I can do it, it’s just that the steps look a bit slippery, and my shoes aren’t good for that. Can you look the other way while I change into something more suitable?”

“Of course.”

As a person from modern-day Earth, I personally thought it was a bit ridiculous that it was considered rude and immodest to show your bare feet in public here, but I didn’t want to cause a scandal. I walked to the nearest tree and hid behind it while Shuye turned his back to me. No doubt I would have to speak to some higher ups in the temple, therefore I took the time to pick a pair of boots that were practical, but looked cute enough to go with my robes.

“All right, let’s do this,” I said when I was done. “At least there’s a railing.”

There must be at least three hundred steps that led up to the Temple of the Fox. The staircase was as slippery as I feared, and I kept one hand on the railing as we ascended. Climbing the stairs really took a lot out of me, but I knew from past experience that it was climbing down that was scarier. My parents had often taken me to out-of-the-way temples and scenic mountain ruins similar to this, and I felt rather melancholy when I remembered our little family trips.

I was lost in daydreams as I navigated the steps, so I was caught by surprise by an unexpected encounter.