Chapter 14 - Connecting the Dots

3 January 2023, 2pm

Swamp Area, 6th Floor

The scenery here in the 6th Floor really wasn't worth the sight. After all, the theme of this Floor was 'swamp', where about half of the area of this Floor was covered with ground that gave a squishy sound every time you took a step. In other words, this Floor wasn't for players who valued the cleanliness of their equipment a lot. Not that it mattered in VR, anyway.

The monsters here were of the insect type, but they were those you could find in prehistoric times. Yup, those giant bugs that you hoped won't exist in the real world. I had defeated a ton of them along with Agil, whom I had met in the middle of the hunting field an hour ago.

"These bugs just don't give us a good fight, do they?" Agil said as he swung his axe at another giant bug, which disintegrated into blue crystals right after.

"They each give more EXP than other monsters as well." I agreed.

Our farming party didn't last long. Agil told me that he was planning to go back to the safe zone after our bug hunt. " Stay safe! Hope we meet again." He said before going.

I waved back in response. Although Agil looked tough with his muscular build and towering height, he was the guy I could definitely count on as a party member.

We both never joined any guilds since the introduction of forming guilds in the 3rd Floor. At least, not yet. I don't know about Agil, but there might come a time that I would join one in the one of the higher Floors.

Thinking that I should also stop my bug hunt, I started to trudge through the muddy waters of the swampland, and towards the only area of the Floor that was forested with trees that were the same as, if not similar, to those found on the 3rd Floor. It was also the only hunting field on the 6th Floor that provided dry land to walk on. Let's just say that travelling in the 6th Floor took a little more time than in the previous Floors.

My eye caught a suspicious figure running towards the forest a few minutes later. The figure had no green marker on top of it, which identified one as a player. Realizing that the muddy ground I was walking on was becoming dry, I quickly travelled to the forest, with my Sprint skill providing the speed I needed to do that.

The trees in this forest were more spread out than those on the 3rd Floor, and the atmosphere there gave a dim feel, such that blue light emulated among the trees. I thought I lost track of the figure by then, but I still wanted to find it, as I knew that figure wasn't dressed as a player, but rather an elf.

The Elf War, as much as I knew from its very brief lore, broke out in the Floors below the 10th Floor, so witnessing fights between elves on these Floors wouldn't be so surprising. But when the Fallen Elves came into the picture, I wondered if the Elf War would become a three-sided front between the Forest, Dark, and Fallen Elves.

I would find that answer about 15 minutes later.

Right now, I was tailing the same figure that I just spotted a second ago, trying to keep a distance from it by using the trees and the environment. It wasn't long before the figure stopped before an elf clearly dressed as a Forest Elf.

The duo was standing in the most brightly lit spot of the forest, so it was hard not to ignore it. I wanted to sneak in to hear their conversation, if there was any, and my Hiding skill made that possible. Half-kneeling beside a tree near the bright spot, I struggled to pick up any words they were saying.

" ...you should be able to get the dark elves' rings, Utagel."

" Yes, and we shall see to it that you give what you promised us in return, Taelios."

That conversation ended the same time that I finally realized who that figure was. Judging from the figure's clothes, I'd certainly confirmed that he was a Fallen Elf. Legolia and I fought his comrades in the previous Floor, so I thought that the Fallen Elves were the enemy of the Forest Elves. Guess that wasn't exactly correct now.

The two elves strolled out of the bright spot, giving me the cue to sneak away as well, before they spot me. As I did just that, I pondered on the very last snippet of conversation I got from those elves.

It's clearly a conspiracy. The Forest and Fallen Elves have allied with each other against the Dark Elves, wanting to get their hands on rings that the dark elves owned. I was slightly interested on how valuable those rings were to the elves, but this sparked a concern for me.

The conversation between a Forest Elf and a Fallen Elf was already an important story cutscene in the Elf War campaign quest, from the looks of it. But what would this mean for the Elf War as a whole? Would this conspiracy affect the Elf War greatly? I wondered if any player had encountered this during the beta test.

And then there's Legolia. Does she know about this? Probably not. She's got pride for her people, and was obviously willing to fight Fallen Elves during the Elf War quests.

I have a very strong feeling that this conspiracy would affect the Elf War storyline at some point in the future, but that could only be relevant on a higher Floor.

Taking a mental note of that unexpected event for future reference, I started to head to the 6th Floor Labyrinth, where I hoped to encounter more giant bugs to continue my EXP farming.

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