Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Nonetheless, the moment Croakatoa gulped down the Sea Sapphire was basically the moment the gem was secured.
After all, no player would leave behind a pile of feces when their corpse disappears. Moreover, if Xi Wei really did establish such a hardcore setting, the courtyard where the battle against the high priest took place in the Rotten Bones event would have ended up smellier than a dung hole.
And if they did create one dung hole with every major battle, even if Xi Wei would ascend as a Greater God thanks to the Players’ effort, none of the other gods would believe him when he introduced himself as the God of Games…
Therefore, as Eleena’s familiar, Croakatoa naturally inherited the Players excellent System that prevents them from taking a dump anywhere, and he soon returned with the Sea Sapphire.
But the problem was that the System had judged that Edward’s party did not secure the Sea Sapphire.
It clearly didn’t acknowledge the gem that was inside Croakatoa’s stomach, and would only do so when it was in the Players’ hands or their bags.
Therefore, Edward could only wait until Croakatoa had finished taking the dump of his life at the reefs before going up to dig out the Sea Sapphire.
Beside him, Gou Dan was capturing the very sight, giving it the title ‘Picking manure between the rocks’ before uploading it to the forums. It somehow proved wildly popular amongst the Players, going viral alongside ‘I Scream’—the image of Joe crossdressing. Even later on, veteran Players would continue to share the post with new players, preventing the post from fading away for a long time, hence ensnaring the newbies day after day.
In turn, Gou Dan was affected by the warm reaction from the Players to slowly tread the path of a paparazzo… of course, that is a story for later.
Meanwhile, Edward had finally found the Sea Sapphire, not knowing that his reputation was already ruined.
Although it had took them much trouble and time to search and steal the gem, they remain the first Players to get one. Aside from a truckload of EXP and game coins, Xi Wei also gave them a special systemwide broadcast, encouraging the Players to find the remaining gems while reminding them it was not easy to secure those items.
However, it was fortunate that it wasn’t just Edward’s party who were being hardworking. With the first gem secured, the other six were also found in the next five days.
Leah the Warrior Princess and her guardsmen managed to defeat the Rocky Fortoise and acquire the second Sea Sapphire at the mountains.
Before dying, Marni snatched the third off the neck of the commander of the fishmen knights (who was riding a giant hermit crab) before dying at the mangrove area.
Jom, Terry and their father-wannabe Joey were fighting salted fishmen mummies while their dog dug out the fourth.
Zonyan Grayhorn was leading a group of newbies when they stumbled upon a sea griffin building a nest, with Zonyan finding the fifth Sea Sapphire in the creature’s nest just before the sea griffin devoured every last newbie.
Vela, under Angora’s instruction, led a group of veterans deep into the jungle to defeat the fishman druid and claiming the sixth Sea Sapphire.
Terrosche (fat) and Silva (skinny) accidentally found the seventh when they were having crab on the coast.
After all the Sea Sapphires were found, the Players who had obtained them received a new mission assigned by the System: return to the Frogmen Village in the time given.
If it had been players back on Earth, there might be some who would stubbornly attempt to disregard that quest to see if they could affect the storyline.
Even so, the Players of this world were all basically believers of the God of Games, and the System, being Xi Wei’s bestowment meant that quests from above were no different from a divine oracle. Leaving aside any chance of disregarding, with a quest at hand and a time limit upon that, the Players would never choose to follow the instructions given.
But in the end, the quest did not directly complete when the seven groups gathered. Still, with half an hour left on the clock, everyone simply guessed that something would happen after the time limit was over.
As veteran Players were more or less acquainted comrades who had more or less worked with each other and weren’t strangers, they all sat together and started chattering away.
“To all elite Players gathered here, everyone must have gone through battles of near death to obtain these gems that signify glory.” The pudgy Terrosche declared seriously. “We are all so excellent, so don’t be cagey, say what you want to say!”
The scrawny Silva was nodding beside him. “As expected of Brother Terrosche. It was so tough eating all those crab—our jaws were beginning to hurt!”
“…”
Edward’s eyes were twitching at that.
‘You two got the gem just by eating crabs! You the last ones we want to hear that from!’
Indeed, he could not help feeling disgusted when he remembered that his party had stood off against almost ten thousand fishmen, leaving Joe and Jessica traumatized while Edward himself had to search through dung to get the gem.
“This event might be a bit difficult, but it was fun fighting monsters over different landscapes and getting so much EXP!” Jom was saying excitedly. “I leveled up nine times with the quest and rewards from the Sea Sapphire quest, and just ten percent away from reaching level forty!”
As such, the other Players started to joining in, animatedly discussing their level up.
“…”
Marni quietly closed the page after a glance at his level and EXP bar, saying nothing with a face full of melancholy. If not for the rewards from finding the gem, he probably would have dropped one or two levels if not for the EXP he earned from this event.
“Although the items exchangeable from this event is bland compared to the Rotten Bones event last time around, there are some good drops if we challenge stronger monsters… like this one, a purple Rare ‘Shield and Armor of the Rocky Fortoise!” Princess Leah started sharing her thoughts about the event too.
“…”
Zonyan Grayclaw stared at the fishman helm which was fashioned out of an anglerfish’s head in his bag, feeling a little stumped and reluctant to speak…
Hence, the noisy chatter died down completely as the crowd’s faces made it clear what they were thinking, leaving a chill in the air.
Things became awkward immediately.
Almost everyone present was screaming inwardly.
‘Why can’t we submit our missions, d*mn it!’
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