Completing the quest

10 minutes went by before Li Wei finally got time to rest. Around him, 9 Forest Spiders were lying dead.

"These dirty spiders! How can they ambush me like that?" declared Li Wei.

He was annoyed, the Forest Spiders forced him to fight non-stop for a full 10 minutes. Whenever he would take down one, another Forest Spider would appear and try to jump on him but fortunately, after just one fight, he already understood the Forest Spiders' pattern and rhythm.

Every four seconds, the Forest Spiders would try to spit their venom at him. Whenever they were about to do so, they would tilt their body backward to be able to shoot the venom at a further distance. With this observation, Li Wei could easily anticipate the venom and dodge them in time. The Forest Spiders were physically weak. It took about 9 sword strikes to take one down.

Fortunately, since Li Wei was just at the edge of their territory, not many Forest Spiders appeared at the same time. They appeared one after the other, but all ended up dying.

With all the Forest Spiders dead, Li Wei quickly grabbed all the drops around him and walked back a few meters to be safe. Seeing no beasts, he quickly drank a health potion to fill his HP bar. He had almost exhausted his stock in this battle.

Looking at the time, he found that there was still about 30 minutes to complete his quest. Considering that going back would take him 15 minutes, Li Wei was thinking about his next move. Should he go back now or continue to hunt the Forest Spiders since he was already there?

The Forest Spiders were a great source of exp. 120 per forest spider and it only took less than 1 minute to defeat one. But more importantly, their fighting style was especially well suited for him since with his high dexterity and good reaction time, he could easily dodge their venom which was their main source of damage.

In the end, Li Wei decided to hunt for 10 more minutes. He knew that there was not much time before the night cycle, it would be a waste to leave such a good farming spot now.

...

7 minutes had passed but Li Wei was already retreating. After killing a couple more Forest Spiders, he noticed that the Forest Spiders no longer came alone. They always stayed in groups of two or three. Despite that, Li Wei still dared to tackle groups of 2 but as he was fighting two Forest Spiders, another group appeared, putting him in an uncomfortable situation.

Without hesitation, he decided to retreat and return to the Lake Fairy. He could always come back and hunt here afterward but getting entangled now might cause him to fail the quest.

5 minutes before the end of the quest, Li Wei stopped in front of the Lake Fairy and the unconscious gnome,

"I have the Forest Spiders' poison sacs, here!" said Li Wei, while taking out 15 of the poison sacs he collected. As soon as he said that, he received a notification,

[System prompt: You have completed the quest "Save the gnome"]

[Reward: 1500 exp]

His expression instantly changed, "Wasn't there to be an unknown reward? Where is it?" thought Li Wei.

"Mmmm" the Lake Fairy nodded unaware of the change in Li Wei's expression. She immediately took out a cauldron and a series of raw materials.

"Is it alchemy?" thought Li Wei, but he did not ask aloud. He simply placed the poison sacs into the pile of ingredients and took a step back to observe. He has already forgotten about the unknown reward and was more interested in witnessing the Lake Fairy's skills.

The Lake Fairy did not say anything either, she lit up a fire with magic under the cauldron. The cauldron was placed on a crude stand. It was quite small and looked like a pot commonly seen in a kitchen but there was clearly some runes and strange writings on it.

With her small hands, the Lake Fairy quickly grabbed the materials one by one and added them to the cauldron. To Li Wei, it looked like a very simple process, but the Lake Fairy was intently focusing on her craft.

It was just a grade 1 antidote. As a grade 2 alchemist, she could easily produce those, but she was always serious when it came to alchemy. No matter how easy the formula was, when it came to alchemy, a very simple mistake could ruin the entire product.

Li Wei attentively observed the actions of the Lake Fairy. Since he did not choose a profession yet, it was a good opportunity to experience alchemy and see if he wanted to walk this path.

The mixture seemed to be boiling, and before long, the Lake Fairy added the rest of the materials next to her, including the poison sacs that Li Wei brought back. Her other hand was constantly moving as if controlling the intensity of the fire.

In less than 5 minutes, all the ingredients completely dissolved into the water the Lake Fairy added; the cauldron was now full of a strange greenish mixture. Some green fumes quickly escaped from the mixture as the Lake Fairy made some transparent bottles appear.

She waited for a few minutes for the mixture to thicken and when it reached the consistency of a thick soup, she quickly poured the mixture into the bottles. In total, she made 3 bottles of that weird mixture.

"You can keep the other two," said the Lake Fairy in Li Wei's head as she grabbed a bottle and turned towards the gnome. She slightly shook the bottle as she poured a few drops onto the gnome's injuries. Immediately, a reaction occurred. The liquid seemed to evaporate when it came into contact with the coagulated blood. More green fumes appeared before the liquid completely washed out the coagulated blood.

The expression of the gnome slightly changed. The moment the liquid touched his blood, the gnome felt as if his arm was being burn. That feeling soon disappeared, giving way to a cold smooth feeling. His face quickly relaxed but he did not wake up yet.

"He is safe now," declared the Lake Fairy with her usual monotonous tone.

But at that moment, "Shriekk Shriekk!" loud screams were heard coming from behind.

Li Wei who was looking at how the Lake Fairy was treating the gnome, immediately tensed up. He already recognized those screams, it was the Scarlet Macaws he came across earlier. He turned to look behind him, only to see 7 Scarlet Macaws flying towards him. As soon as they saw Li Wei, they flapped their wings even faster.

"F***! Even after one hour, they are still chasing after me! How did they even find me?" swore Li Wei. He felt depressed. He could survive three Scarlet Macaws, but seven at the same time, that was asking for too much.

He did not know how they found him, but it was clear that they did not come here with kind intentions. Li Wei immediately reacted:

[Earth Wall]

He quickly activated his ring's skill which already came off cooldown. An earth wall quickly appeared between Li Wei and the Scarlet Macaws. The birds were unfazed.

"Shriekk" as one of the Scarlet Macaws screamed, they quickly broke their formation and went around the earth wall before diving towards Li Wei.

There was no escape. He was already surrounded by the Scarlet Macaws. This was the main difference between hunting in the wild and hunting in the dungeon. Most beasts in the wild were very protective towards their kind and their territory. It was the same for the spiders and the boas, but they did not have the same flying ability as the Scarlet Macaws and could not chase after Li Wei.

Players were encouraged to first hunt and gain some levels into the dungeons or the nearby areas of a town. There was a reason they spawned in cities instead of some border towns. The players were given time to get accustomed to hunting. The Abe's Forest could be considered as a remote area, the closest settlement beside the cottages at the Gassian Lake was a small village but going there would require half a day on a horse.

"F***", Li Wei desperately tried to find a solution, but his mind was blank. Even the Chaos Sphere would not be able to save him from this situation. "Will this be my first death?" said Li Wei to himself.

Li Wei already closed his eyes. There was no way he could survive the simultaneous attack from seven different directions. Even his usual instinct was not reacting, he was simply in panic and had no idea how to escape this situation.

But as the Scarlet Macaws were about to hit Li Wei, a thin water bubble suddenly appeared and around him. The beaks of the birds hit the water bubble, but Li Wei received no damage. In fact, he only felt as if something gently tapped him where the beaks landed.

He opened his eyes, only to find the Scarlet Macaws quickly regrouping. On the side, the Lake Fairy had her hand raised towards Li Wei, a faint blue aura came out of her body.

"Shriekk Shriekkkk Shriii" with a frustrated tone, the Scarlet Macaws looked towards the Lake Fairy and screamed.

The latter was unperturbed. There was no change in her facial expression. She blankly stared at the Scarlet Macaws, but Li Wei knew that she was actually talking to them. Just like she could talk to him in his mind, Li Wei guessed that the Lake Fairy could do the same to the Scarlet Macaws.

"Shriekkk Shriii" the Scarlet Macaws seemed unhappy with what she said. They angrily stared at Li Wei. With a finally piercing scream, they finally left the scene.

As the birds left, the voice of the Lake Fairy rang into his head: "You should leave the forest as soon as possible... I told them to let you go for now, but if they find you again in the forest, you can only blame yourself!"

"Thank you... But I still need to find a Shining Alyssum before leaving. This is why I came here in the first place," said Li Wei. He was truly grateful towards the Lake Fairy, but the Shining Alyssums were very important to him, or else, that trip would be for nothing.

"Humans are really stubborn." Her voice rang once again as she turned around and left. Li Wei did not even notice that she picked up all the items she used to make the antidote. Her job was done, she had no reason to stay there any longer. The Lake Fairies were not sociable creatures. She quickly vanished into the forest, leaving no trace behind.

Li Wei did not stop her. He only crouched to take the 2 bottles of antidote but as he picked them up, a strong wind suddenly blew onto his face.

As he raised his head, he saw a Shining Alyssum floating just in front of him. "With this, you can leave now!" It was the voice of the Lake Fairy, she actually found a Shining Alyssum that quickly.

"Thank you." loudly said Li Wei. He could not see the Lake Fairy anymore, but he hoped that she heard him. With this Shining Alyssum, his trip could be considered successful. But at the same time, a voice came out from behind:

"Cough cough! How can you be so loud! Youngsters nowadays!"

Upon hearing that, Li Wei immediately turned his attention to the gnome who was previously unconscious. The weak looking gnome was now vigorously standing up. Looking at his posture, one would never guess that he was on the brink of death a few moments earlier.

"Is it you that cured me of the poison, human?" asked the gnome with a curious expression.

"No, it was not me, a Lake Fairy was standing there a few minutes earlier. She was the one that made the antidote," replied Li Wei as he showed the bottle of antidote he just picked up.

"A Lake Fairy. These girls still like to play mysterious. Even with gnomes... I don't know what you did, but if she let you have these bottles, you probably helped her in some way. Take this, I was taught to always pay my debts."

As he was talking, his hands briefly rummaged through his pocket. He took out a small wooden box. He swiftly opened it and took out a small metallic object.

Seeing Li Wei's expression, he quickly continued: "You must accept this. Even if you are a human, I am still grateful that you saved me but be careful, this thing is very powerful. It is the product of years of engineering," said the gnome as he approached Li Wei and pushed the metallic object into his hands.

"This... I did not do much, you should give it to the Lake Fairy..." Li Wei was about to refuse and give back the item but the gnome was already turning to leave.

"Be careful. This thing can set anything on fire. Although the range of explosion is quite small, the fire won't go out before the target is completely burnt! There's a special substance inside that spreads easily and is very flammable! Don't burn yourself!" said the gnome as he disappeared into the forest.

"This..." Li Wei was speechless. Was he repulsive to the point that both the Lake Fairy and the gnome would leave as soon as possible?

Since he now had his 5 Shining Alyssums, there was no reason for him to stay here. The Scarlet Macaws might be gone for now, but they could come back at any time, especially now that the Lake Fairy was gone.

As he was about to leave, Li Wei glanced at the item he obtained from the gnome. Just the name made his eyes shine.

[Pyro Bomb (Grade 2)]

Explodes and sets an area on fire. Targets hit by the explosion will suffer from serious burns.

[System prompt: your level is too low to correctly identify the item. Level up to obtain precise figures or ask a professional identifier or appraiser.]