A limited-time quest.
Wu Yao stood up straight. The three-hour countdown had already begun, the numbers in the upper right corner ticking down unhurriedly.
Although the quest rewards weren't listed, she could already smell the scent of good things to come.
After all, the clue was related to barrier arrays, so the bare minimum reward would likely be Fragmented Notebook on Barrier Arrays of the Great Witch of the Starry Night (2).
The quest details provided a set of coordinates. She opened her map and compared the locations; it was further south of Qinghe Town, separated from the Moonlight Forest by a short buffer distance.
This territory seemed much larger than Qinghe Town, but fortunately, it wasn't too far from the Moonlight Forest.
With nearly three hours left on the countdown, her current speed would give her more than enough time to rush over from her territory.
She entered her cabin and lay down on her Moon-Silver Wood Bed, seizing every second to recover her mana.
Xuanmiao followed closely on her heels into the bedroom. Seeing her lie down, the kitten hopped onto the bed with practiced ease and curled up into a ball by her waist.
After lying down for less than five minutes, her mana was fully restored. She quickly rolled over and sat up. Just as she was about to set off, something fluffy suddenly brushed against the back of her neck.
Wu Yao reached back, her fingertips brushing against a warm ball of soft fur.
Xuanmiao had crawled into the hood of her robe, stuffing herself in snugly, leaving only her pointed ears peeking out.
“You're coming too?”
“Meow,” Xuanmiao cried out righteously, patting the hood with her front paw.
“…Alright then.” She stood up and stretched her shoulders. Xuanmiao didn't weigh much, but having her in the hood made it sag a bit.
Activating both the Lightweight Spell and Wind Wings, she tugged her hood upward and flipped out of the bedroom window.
About thirty minutes later, the trees ahead gradually thinned out. Through the gaps between the trunks, she could see scattered farmhouses and wheat fields on the distant plains.
Flying forward for another few minutes, a city wall much grander and taller than the one in Qinghe Town rose from the horizon.
Qisuo City, the main city of Ken Territory.
She stopped outside the city walls, dispersing her Wind Wings and keeping only her Lightweight Spell active to muffle her footsteps.
Her mana had been nearly half-consumed during her journey. Since she might have to fight later, she needed to keep some in reserve.
The twin moons still hung high in the sky, and the torches on the city walls burned brightly. The guards at the gate weren't slacking off either; two of them paced back and forth at the entrance.
With a light tap of her toes against the stone wall, she noiselessly flipped over the battlements and landed in a narrow alley on the inner side of the wall.
The entire process didn't alert the guards at all. Only Xuanmiao poked half her head out from inside the hood.
Ken Territory was far wealthier than Qinghe Town.
The main street was paved with uniform blue bricks, and cast-iron streetlights stood on both sides. The lamps had glass covers, and though the lamp oil inside had already burned dry, they reflected a dull metallic luster under the moonlight.
These streetlights made Wu Yao's fingers itch terribly; her territory was still short of streetlights.
But now was not the time to dismantle streetlights. She had to complete the quest first and worry about them when she returned.
Wu Yao forced herself to tear her gaze away from the streetlights, opening her quest interface to confirm the coordinate location.
The light dot representing her target was not far ahead. Walking along the main street, she noted that although the night was already deep, a few taverns were still lit.
Warm yellow light leaked through the gaps in the doors and window frames. From within came intermittent sounds of chatter and laughter, occasionally punctuated by the crisp clinking of glasses.
A drunkard pushed open a tavern door and stumbled around the corner, disappearing from sight. The door slowly swung shut behind him, locking the laughter back inside the building.
The coordinates pointed to a three-story building.
Its storefront was larger than those of the surrounding shops. Its outer walls were painted a dark red, and a crooked wooden sign hung above the lintel, its lettering long since blurred and eroded by wind and rain.
Even without looking at the sign, one could guess what kind of place it was from the few people standing by the entrance and chatting.
A few individuals leaned against the doorframe and walls, their voices kept low, occasionally bursting into laughter. When they saw her walking over, their chatter paused.
A curly-haired woman eyed her up and down, then flashed a smile to greet her. “My lady, all alone in the middle of the night? Why not come inside, have a drink, and warm yourself up?”
Wu Yao nodded in response and pushed the door open to walk inside.
The moment the door opened, a warm breeze mixed with the scent of alcohol and food rushed over her.
Guests were scattered across seven or eight tables in the lobby. There were merchants huddled together whispering, mercenaries drinking silently on their own, and in the corner, a group of people was rolling dice, which clattered loudly inside a wooden bowl.
A few servers carrying trays of drinks shuttled between the tables with agile movements. When they saw a new guest enter, they raised their heads in unison to greet her, their smiles looking as if they had been stamped from the exact same mold.
A few drunken mercenaries passed by her, carrying a gust of wind that reeked of cheap alcohol, low-grade perfume, and sweat.
Wu Yao knit her brows, her stomach churning.
She raised her right hand and spread her fingers slightly. A pale green wind element rippled outward with her as the center, sweeping away all the lingering smoke, alcohol, perfume, and other indescribably suggestive odors in the lobby.
After the wind passed, the air instantly became crisp and clear.
But what followed was an even greater chaos.
“Who?! Who cast a spell?!”
“A mage! It's a mage!”
“Run!”
The group rolling dice in the corner stood up abruptly, knocking over their chairs.
A mercenary by the bar had already placed his hand on his sword hilt, but remembering that his opponent was a mage, he forced himself to draw his hand back.
Some screamed, some covered their heads and rushed for the door, while others crawled under the tables. Wine glasses overturned, and alcohol dripped down the edges of the tables.
Wu Yao did not linger in the chaotic lobby. Opening her map to confirm that the coordinates were directly behind the building, she walked straight toward the back.
Behind the lobby was a long, narrow corridor. Both sides were lined with tightly shut doors, and at the end was a staircase leading to the second floor.
The corridor was designed with many twists and turns, with a door every few paces. There were no numbers on the doors, which were all painted the same dark red.
The coordinates were in this general area, but she opened three or four doors in a row without finding the right one.
Pushing open the first door, she heard a shriek and closed it expressionlessly.
For the second door, before she could even see what the people inside were doing, her vision was instantly blurred by the system's censorship mosaics.
The third door was pitch-black inside, with thunderous snoring. She took one look and backed out.
Standing before the fourth door, she checked the coordinates once more.
It was definitely around here, but the coordinate tracking on the 2D map wasn't precise enough to determine which specific room it was.
Pushing open the fourth door, another naked man bounced up from the bed, opening his mouth to curse.
Wu Yao was faster. She blasted him directly with a Fireball. As long as they had a health bar, killing them would never be the wrong choice.
The corpse quickly carbonized in the flames, and the bedsheets caught fire as well.
Wu Yao casually cast a Waterball to extinguish the fire, then closed the door amidst the sizzling steam.
The fifth door.
Wu Yao took a deep breath, reached out, and pushed it open.
Rate on N.U.
