21 Goblin Forest

Realm Name: Goblin Forest (Shine City)

Difficulty: 0.65 stars out of 10 stars

Common monsters: Goblins, White-furred wolves, Great Bears, Long-tusks warthogs

In a typical pine forest, four pillars of white lights suddenly erupted from the ground. In a second, the light dwindled, revealing the four explorers entering this realm.

Looking around, no monsters were in sight. In fact, the forest looked pretty dead. No birds. No squirrels. No live critters whatsoever.

Looking up, unlike the outside, it was a cloudless day here. The sky quickly brightened up as the sun fully emerged above the horizon.

A breeze brushed by, shaking some pine needles off the pine trees. As those pine needles hit the ground, they quickly disintegrated into grey dust, fading away into the air.

Yes. Rather magical.

This was why some explorers call these magical realms 'twilight zones.' Sometimes, common sense or physical laws did not apply here.

Holding his battle position, Beetle did not drop his guard. Carefully scanning around, Beetle seemed to be listening for the surrounding sounds at the same time.

As an experienced explorer, he knew exactly what his first task was - look for possible dangers and escape routes.

Even though it's the 21st already, Beetle still didn't dare to let down his guard.

After those checks, Beetle sniffed around.

Jake took a deep breath as well. It's a fresh earthy smell. Nothing strange to be found.

Ding!

A message popped into Jake's mind.

[ Solo Boss Quest Triggered! ]

[ Quest Description: As a melee hero, you have to fight! Hone your combat skills. Defeat the evil monsters. Rise up and become a shining hero! ]

[ Singlehandedly defeat the boss of this realm. ]

[ Quest ends in: 29 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 58 Seconds ]

[ Reward: ]

[ 500 Click Points ]

[ 1 * Enemies' Blood ]

[ Quest Failure Punishment: The host is hexed into a scared-looking chicken for 7 days ]

'Enemies' Blood?' Jake lightly raised his brows.

Jake had no idea what that was, nor did he expect an explanation from this half-broken system.

The 500 click points seemed pretty good though. But what's up with these punishments?

Fragile-looking beauty, now scared-looking chicken?

For some reason, Jake felt that the system was mocking him.

Also, there was one potential problem.

The iron-tier guilds could have defeated the boss in this realm already. And the boss won't respawn until the 1st of the next month.

'I guess I'll just drop by on July 1st to secure the deal then...'

'Even though I'm at iron-tier already, soloing a boss is still rather risky.'

'If I remember correctly... For soloing the boss in this realm.'

'According to H.U.G.S, a minimum of iron-tier mid-level is needed.'

'During these 10 days, I should try to unlock the speed buff under ability - body.'

'This way, even if I can't beat the boss, at least I can run across the boss room and get to the exit.'

As Jake thought this through, Beetle had finally finished observing.

Beetle released his teal mana armor. The two newbies followed suit.

In this short period of time, the faces of the two newbies were starting to turn pale already. Putting on a mana armor was a rather draining task to them.

"Safe. Regenerate your mana." Beetle commanded with a grim face. Clearly, to Beetle, two of the newbies here seemed useful to him. Even though he was confident in making it out alive, he didn't mind some help.

Beetle dropped his backpack onto the ground. "Rest for stamina."

Squatting down, Beetle continued to scan around.

Seeing this, Reaper dropped his backpack as well. Sitting on the ground, the big dude took in deep breaths.

Mage followed Reaper and sat down as well.

While listening to the advice, Jake took a sip of his coffee. This information might be useful for yellow-tier realms as well.

Beetle stared at the newbies and thought for a moment. "Squat. Do not sit. Stay ready to move."

"One mistake. And it could cost your life. Think about the consequences early. Stay alerted."

The two newbies nodded like docile students.

After a moment of rest, Reaper checked the time.

"If it has a battery, it will stop working here." Beetle took a glance at Reaper and explained.

The big guy looked at Beetle, hoping to hear an alternative solution. But he just received silence.

"Alright. Move out."

...

Hours later...

"It's not THAT much different from the outside right?" Reaper casually looked around as the group hiked up a hill.

"I mean... the trees still look somewhat like pine trees."

'The ground and the soil is basically the same. '

"I mean. There isn't even any monsters in here. You know what I mean. Right? Right?"

Beetle, the squad leader, remained alerted though. He looked busy in scanning around. Subtly holding his breath, the dude seemed to be paying attention to the surrounding sounds.

Shooting a glance back at the ranting newbie, Beetle continued forward.

Reaper wiped some sweat off his forehead. He clearly didn't receive the message.

"Looks like being an explorer is not THAT difficult. Right? Right?"

Silence...

Beetle wanted the new guy to shut up. Jake was too lazy to reply.

"Well... Yeah..." Mage shyly chuckled and nodded.

"It's just we can't get any food or water here... Also. There might be deadly monsters out there. But other than that... It's pretty much the same. I guess."

Jake took a look at the simple-looking dude.

Mage shyly smiled and nodded at John.

'Is this guy seriously analyzing? Or is this mockery?' Jake couldn't tell.

"Monsters?" Reaper drank a mouth-full of water. "What monsters? It's the 21st already. The monsters are probably cleared out already."

"Man. I wish we entered the realm earlier..." Reaper shot a displeased glance at Jake.

"If it's not for someone... we probably could have entered this realm a few days earlier."

"But out of consideration for a certain member here, we had to enter this realm at a 'safer' date."

"Man, I wish I could fight a real monster for the first time."

Hearing this dude's endless rant, Jake wanted to put on his headphones and listen to some music. But electronics don't work here.

If Jake turned on his phone, the phone might literally explode into sparks.

"Oh. Over there." Jake cut off the big dude's rant.

"About 20 meters away. In that bush up the hill." Jake pointed with his chin.

"What?"

"There is an old wolf staring at us."