(Tyler: The girl we decided to pursue is Emilia.)
Tyler glanced at the blonde hair fox-girl at the reception, who was quietly reading a book.
(Silly Nissen: Oh, I understand, no need to explain, it must be because she’s too “BIG”.)
The stupid loli’s words were filled with a strong sense of sarcasm.
(Tyler: …What exactly is too big?)
(Silly Nissen: Isn’t that it? Then why else?)
(Tyler: Because I see my past self in her, it’s easier to pursue someone with commonalities.)
(Silly Nissen: Your past self…?)
Hearing Tyler’s words, the stupid loli seemed to understand a bit, but she didn’t dare let Tyler know she had investigated his past, so she feigned confusion.
(Silly Nissen: What past self? Don’t speak in riddles, Tyler, be clear.)
The stupid loli knew that Tyler would ignore her at such times. Indeed, he paid no heed and focused on analyzing the task at hand.
The stupid loli breathed a sigh of relief, but after a while, she began to feel sad about her pitiable method.
.
Having carefully reviewed the task details, Tyler had some ideas.
The North Sunny Wasteland was close to Sunny Town. It would take only half a day’s ride to reach it from the north gate.
The estimated level of the Treant, 35, wasn’t high, but the task had been published for half a month without being completed, suggesting that it excelled at hiding.
Moreover, the task was commissioned by the Sunny Town branch, which offered generous rewards. It seemed they were genuinely concerned about the risk of the Treant breeding a swarm of demons.
As for why Branch Chief Oleg didn’t handle it himself, Tyler thought that aside from not having enough time, the branch chief’s physical condition wouldn’t allow for intense battles.
When Tyler saw Oleg last night, he had checked his status information, and the values didn’t correspond to those of a level 50 individual.
(It seems that status values can be affected by aging.)
·
Ten minutes later, Tyler left the Quest Guild, fetched Motor-chan from the stable, and set off for the North Sunny Wasteland.
This time, Tyler’s objective was merely to scout and gather information. After obtaining more detailed intelligence, he would return to Sunny Town to make targeted preparations.
As the surrounding scenery gradually turned yellowish-brown, Tyler entered the North Sunny Wasteland.
True to its name, the North Sunny Wasteland was a vast expanse of parched, cracked earth.
Withered trees struggled to survive in small clusters, while moss and weeds in the ground’s crevices were the last vestiges of greenery.
Upon arriving at the wasteland, Tyler noticed three or four teams already searching for the Treant and decided to approach them to assess their situations.
“Ugh, this is so boring, we can’t find anything.”
“Yeah, why don’t we just chop down all the trees? The Treant must have something to do with trees, right?”
“Are you kidding? Do you know how many trees there are in the North Sunny Wasteland? At least a few hundred! You wouldn’t finish chopping them down even by next year’s Rain Praise Festival!”
Bounty hunters chatted and searched simultaneously, making it easy for Tyler to overhear their conversations.
“It’s only one person who died, isn’t it? Why make such a fuss?”
“Are you dumb? Haven’t you heard of prevention being better than cure?”
“Yeah, if it weren’t for Chief Oleg’s proactive approach, we wouldn’t have the peaceful life we enjoy in Sunny Town.”
“Exactly! In my opinion, if it weren’t for Gudetown Calvary constantly trying to control the Sandrift Gorge, we would have hunted down those Rock Shadow Golem demons long ago!”
The bounty hunters were enthusiastic in their discussions but lackluster in their searches.
However, Tyler could understand their frustration; searching for an unidentified Treant amid the withered trees of the wasteland was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
.
After a period of observation, Tyler approached the bounty hunters with food in hand, engaging them in conversation with ease.
“Black hair young man – you’re not from around here, are you? A refugee from the Great Migration?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You shouldn’t be here alone. At the very least, you should join a team. How about joining ours?”
These bounty hunters were friendly, but Tyler had already decided to proceed on his own.
“Thank you for the invitation, but I already have a team. The others are still in town; I’m here to gather information.”
Upon Tyler’s refusal, the bounty hunters’ enthusiasm faded. After all, why would they share information with a competitor?
Nonetheless, Tyler came prepared. With the help of his “Deceiver” skill and mind-reading ability, he quickly assessed the situation. Several small teams had searched the North Sunny Wasteland for the Treant for half a month without success.
The only clue came from two passersby who were attacked by the Treant: one died, and the injured survivor brought back a Treant branch to the Quest Guild. Despite multiple searches, the Guild could not find the Treant, so they estimated its level based on past records.
Everyone suspected that the Treant could camouflage itself as a withered tree, but there were too many such trees in the Wasteland. It wasn’t feasible to search each one individually.
Tyler concluded that the Treant was a cunning and opportunistic creature.
Once the Wasteland was empty, it would surely reveal itself to prey on the vulnerable.
·
After bidding farewell to the bounty hunters, Tyler roamed the Wasteland while daylight remained.
He spotted an unusual status information on a withered root and immediately picked it up.
(A severed root from a Fir Treant…?)
His Divine Eye once again proved invaluable.
Despite searching the area again, Tyler found no further clues.
On his way back, he hunted a spotted antelope and a white-tailed deer, earning 350 professional experience points, leaving him just 50 points away from leveling up his “Hunter” profession.
He needed to hunt new species to continue leveling up in this new region.
Ultimately, Tyler returned to Sunny Town before nightfall.
·
Upon returning to Sunny Town, Tyler quickly began preparing for battle. He first conducted experiments with the “Fir Treant’s severed root” and then made significant upgrades to his equipment and supplies.
First, he replaced his old stone-tipped arrows with 40 iron-tipped arrows.
Next, considering his increased strength, he swapped his light wooden shield for an iron one and upgraded his cloth armor to leather.
Lastly, he skillfully crafted five smoke bombs, purchased four barrels of oil, a large bag of cotton, three sets of flint, and a new luminous magic stone.
With these preparations complete, he was ready.
·
Instead of rushing out, Tyler slept for a while.
Only when all other teams had returned to Sunny Town from the North Sunny Wasteland in the late night did he leisurely set out once more. 𝒐𝗏𝑙ℯxt.𝐜𝑜𝔪
Tonight, he was determined to capture the elusive Treant.