Chapter 83

Ximen Port is located at the narrowest part of the Dragon Lake, where the inlet is only about thirty miles wide, on the southern bank. It faces Ulaspil on the northern bank, and is the main trading city of the Dragon Coast, its size being self-evident.

Caisang and Black Mountain Imp were standing on a gentle slope to the south of the port city, looking down the winding road at a city that lay quietly by the river at the foot of the mountain, resembling a giant beast.

To the north of Ximen is the inlet of Dragon Lake, and to the east is the vast and boundless Falling Star Sea. The sunlight reflecting off the lake sparkled brilliantly, like gems on a blue satin, making the size of Ximen City seem less significant. However, as they got closer, the oppressive presence of the massive, gray-black city gradually became apparent.

Although everyone knew there was a Ximen City in the game, the official map did not provide specific distances. Only after personally exploring would the precise map, measured in meters, appear in the players' adventure logs. Caisang and Black Mountain Imp had just completed a quest and were now hurrying back to Ximen from the south.

"That guy Fangkuai doesn't even say when he'll be here, really unreliable," Black Mountain Imp casually pulled a leaf from a nearby shrub, tearing it into strips, studying the plant while complaining to Caisang.

"He did send a message, didn't he?" Caisang, holding a staff in his right hand, occasionally checked the magical status of both of them. But then he seemed to think of something and smiled slightly, "But Fangkuai is quite unlucky, even getting ambushed while riding a carriage at night."

After tearing the umpteenth leaf, Black Mountain Imp finally gave up on tormenting the roadside flora and fauna, "He's just so dark-skinned~ But he makes it sound so easy, telling us to figure out the situation here first, and the previous information said to look for clues about the Heart of Holy Light, which isn't easy at all..."

"The quest is still light red," Black Mountain Imp clearly was very unhappy with someone's tardiness, but then he looked at Caisang with some apprehension, "Sis, do you think we'll mess up this high-level hidden quest?"

In the virtual game, the realism of quests has been continuously improving. In "Miracle," besides regular quests, high-level and hidden quests have randomness and relative uniqueness. This means that if you fail a quest midway—such as a key NPC dying or a key item being lost—there's no way to go back and find the quest clues again unless there's another storyline for the quest.

Of course, every quest has at least two different ways to trigger it, but the chances of finding the same high-level quest again are slim, especially for something like the Heart of Holy Light. Any mistakes they made would directly affect the difficulty of the subsequent quest development, which is why Black Mountain Imp asked this question.

Seeing Black Mountain Imp's inquiring gaze, Caisang playfully flicked his forehead, "Aren't you usually fearless?" But Caisang knew that because this was a quest clue Fangkuai discovered himself, Black Mountain Imp was afraid of making mistakes and causing trouble for him.

"Don't worry, Fangkuai trusts us, or he wouldn't have shared this quest. We just need to be more careful," Caisang gripped his staff, also giving himself a mental boost, "Come on!"

The two had been in Ximen Port for a few days and were familiar with the surrounding terrain. They quickly crossed the small plain to the south of Ximen and returned to the city.

The southeast gate is one of the main gates of Ximen Port. Merchants and adventurers traveling between Star Curtain City and the giant port formed a bustling crowd, passing through the massive gates made of huge fir and hawkwood.

Looking around, the city was filled with various tall buildings, many of which were luxurious structures made of hard granite and expensive marble. Compared to Ximen, Tashir could only be considered a child—both in scale and substance—since Tashir didn't have temples dedicated to gods like Beshaba, Malar, or Cyric (at least not openly).

Caisang and Black Mountain Imp pushed through the crowded streets filled with players and NPCs, heading straight to a two-story building in the south of the city—the Adventurers' Guild, a place set up by the game system for players to register fixed teams and post team adventure quests. They had chosen to take quests here partly to wait for the thief and partly to understand how the Adventurers' Guild operates.

"Very fast, indeed~" Lucy, the receptionist at the Adventurers' Guild hall, smiled as she took the quest item from Caisang, a graceful elven priest. After confirming the completion of the quest, she stamped a bright red seal on the bounty notice that Caisang and Black Mountain Imp had taken.

The table in front of her clearly recorded the completion status of all players' quests. Lucy marked Caisang and Black Mountain Imp's names, indicating that their quest efficiency had improved significantly. She then asked, "Actually, many people are looking for warriors and priests in team recruitment notices. I have a few strong teams here. Would you like to consider joining any of them?"

Due to their high completion efficiency on previous quests and their level 16 status, Caisang and Black Mountain Imp were ranked quite high among players and were among the top recommended candidates by the Adventurers' Guild.

Caisang had already received the system notification for completing the quest and was carefully examining the rewards. Hearing Lucy's question, he smiled and shook his head, "We have a friend to team up with, sorry~"

Caisang politely declined Lucy's suggestion, and the two left the guild hall, replenished their supplies, and then headed to a familiar inn. This quest had taken them two days, and if it weren't for Fangyi's message, they wouldn't have rushed back so early.

Entering the inn room, Black Mountain Imp immediately took off his heavy metal armor, tossing his steel shield and longsword on the ground, and changed into a nightgown from somewhere, cheering as he dived into bed.

If Fangyi were here, he would probably be shocked, not to mention the possibility of being labeled a pervert, how could there be nightgowns in the game?

However, in Fangyi's view, items like nightgowns, which have no defensive effect, and elaborate dresses that are completely impractical, are very popular among female players. In the works of tailors, their popularity is no less than that of ordinary magical equipment. Of course, the practicalist Fangyi wouldn't understand this.

Caisang also took off his white robe, sat in a chair, leaned his staff against the side, and sighed softly. Although the bloodstains and mud on his body had long been cleaned off, the feeling of temporarily leaving the dangerous wilderness and returning to the main city, filled with the atmosphere of human civilization, was much more relaxing.