IRHGZA 17

Chapter 17

The Eastern Forest was a place every MasFarm player visited at least once.

For combat-class players, it was a shortcut to dungeons; for farming players or those pursuing other activities, it was a treasure trove where one could obtain seeds or saplings of wild herbs and crops.

Now, it was a desolate place with only dead trees and bare land. Yet, to prove it had once been lush, black, withered branches densely covered the sky.

Nana and Ishanka had entered the Eastern Forest. Nana activated the “Land Claim” skill once again.

If the message appeared again saying it wasn’t connected to a quest, she planned to burn the entire forest to the ground and declare the cleared land as farmland. Then she would plant trees there to create a new forest, attracting animals.

It would take a long time, but after all, the work would be done by the zombies. There were barely ten of them, but if they worked step by step, eventually a new forest could be created.

It was absurd, but Nana wasn’t in a rational state to care about such details. This was also a kind of threat. “I’ve come prepared to think this far. Would it be boring if I just let it go like last time?”

The system seemed to notice Nana’s madness, and a chime sounded as a new message window appeared, different from last time.

<Hidden Quest Activated: “Conquer the Eastern Forest.” The objective is to absorb the forest’s energy from the World Tree in the center of the forest.>

<Warning! Warning! Due to the activation of the hidden quest, a horde of zombies will converge on the Eastern Forest. You must reach the World Tree without being caught by them.

If you fail, you cannot enter the Eastern Forest for one year. You cannot set fires either. But you can succeed. Good luck!>

Reading the quest details made her laugh. “Hahaha… unbelievable.”

“You can’t even fix errors properly, but you make quests like this so well? A forest that’s already dead? Just giving it away like that—doesn’t that bother you?”

Ishanka watched Nana, who was screaming like a madwoman, with a calm expression.

‘Pointing at the air… talking to a god again. Not many people can speak so freely to a deity.’

This had become a familiar scene for him. But it was still fascinating. That she could speak to a god like that without restraint meant they had no pretenses with each other.

Ishanka had not been that close to his own god. He had wished to descend to the mortal world, and he found a suitable vessel. After losing his parents and almost everything else, Ivanu approached him. Without hesitation, he accepted the god. He needed the power.

As a child, becoming Ivanu’s avatar and the chief of the Nanuk tribe, people respected him—and envied him. Even as an avatar, people tried to belittle him, thinking a child could know nothing.

To silence such people, he restrained his emotions even when he wanted to complain, secretly studied the lost governance texts of the old empire, and trained his body daily to keep up with other chiefs.

He had lived like that for over a decade. Such a lifestyle had become so habitual that showing emotions in front of others was unnatural—but recently, that habit was breaking in front of one person.

That girl, who was now stamping her feet and expressing all sorts of emotions. Ishanka covered a smile with one hand and approached Nana.

At that moment, he sensed an unpleasant but familiar magical aura nearby: wandering undead, the creatures Nana called zombies.

“It seems the zombies are coming this way. Judging by their magic, there’s more than one. Excuse me for a moment.”

Before Nana could respond, he swiftly scooped her onto his shoulder and leapt up to a tall tree.

Fortunately, the tree wasn’t completely rotten inside. From their vantage point, they looked down at the horde below.

Soon enough, the ground where they had been standing teemed with zombies. There was no space to step without stepping on another.

“Even those that are attacked by wild boars on the farm act quickly at times like this,” Nana remarked.

“The zombie population here was comparatively low. But suddenly seeing them converge like this… it seems related to your actions, Master,” Ishanka observed.

“Yes, indeed… The blasted system… must have given me this trial.”

The more she talked, the more her teeth ground in irritation.

“Do you know what kind of trial it is?” Ishanka asked.

Since they had come into the forest together, Nana had to explain everything to him. She left out or simplified unfamiliar terms like ‘quest’ when necessary.

“So we have to reach the World Tree while avoiding them,” he concluded.

He pulled something from his coat—a map.

“This should be roughly where we are. I’m not familiar with this area, so I don’t know where the World Tree is. Do you happen to know its location?”

Nana tapped her lips with her finger, frowning in thought. She was concentrating.

She scoured her memory for game-play tips about the World Tree. Since it was tied to a main story quest, she was certain about it.

Though she struggled to recall details as if a section had been cut out, she could barely remember the tree’s characteristics and location.

“This is where we need to go.” She pointed. It was a thirty-minute walk from their current position.

“Since zombies are swarming below, we’ll have to move from tree to tree,” she noted.

“But even that only covers about 200 meters. We need to go that way, but the gaps between the trees are too wide.”

Normally, no person could cross in a single jump. Avoiding the gap would mean a long detour, and the situation could worsen. Taking a gamble now was essentially risking their lives.

If Ishanka were alone, he might manage it. But with Nana on his back, leaping that distance was impossible.

Their only choice was to descend and climb the opposite tree. But with the horde below, doing so without being noticed was almost impossible—even for Ivanu’s avatar, Ishanka.

Ding!

<Sub-Quest Activated>

What now?

<Sub-Quest: Your Voice Can Be Heard.
You have a very useful item in your inventory for this situation. Use it to lure zombies. Zombies have poor hearing, not deafness.

Reward: Experience points and hints to complete the hidden quest.
Failure: No penalty. Be careful not to die.>

This game always pushed people to the edge while pretending penalties were light.

Nana groaned. She suspected which item the message meant. Using it would allow her to reach the World Tree without encountering zombies—but it would be a huge strain.

Still, she had no other choice.

“Isha… can you promise not to be surprised by whatever I do from now on?”

“You seem to have an idea,” Ishanka replied.

“Yes. But I’d like you not to ask me anything while I do it. Can you promise that?”

“I don’t know your plan, but it’s better than staying idle here. Understood. I promise.”

With Ishanka’s promise, Nana pulled an object from her inventory, her expression resolute.

It was a black, shiny, square item: a speaker.