Souta rest for a whole day. He just stays inside the cave and he let Yuko hunt the food for the two of them. Yuko was one of the powerful monsters here so he doesn't need to worry about her getting in trouble.
"Let's continue our journey," Souta said as he stood up and stretched his body. It was morning and the weather was nice. It's perfect for traveling.
He turned around and looked at Yuko. "Yuko, come on! Let's go!"
Yuko followed behind him quietly.
Souta has a plan. He recalled that there were valuable things in this forest. Every place of this world has something that's valuable. Especially with his current strength, he needs those things as long as it could help him a little.
Souta followed his memories and walked for about one hour before he stopped. Yuko also stopped and looked at him with a confused expression. She was wondering why did he stop all of a sudden.
Souta ignored her and carefully looked at his surrounding. Towering trees were around them and it still the same as before.
'Hmm...? Okay, I get it,' he then ducked down and pressed his palm on the grass. He then felt a stone hiding beneath the grass.
This stone was different from normal stone as characters that he couldn't understand were carved in the surface of the stone. There's a red dot protruding in the center of the carvings.
Souta smiled and looked around him. He noticed a flickering light hiding in the tree fifteen meters away from him. He pressed the red dot and slowly raised his hand. He showed the stone to the flickering light.
The flickering light vanished from his sight and he felt someone appeared behind him. Souta slowly turned his head and saw a strange creature behind him.
It has the same height as him when he was still an ordinary goblin. It was a humanoid creature that has a furry lower body and two goat horns on its head. It was a Great Lumb. A special type of monster that can only be found in a forest. It didn't have great combat skills but it has great magical powers. In the game, if a player encounters this creature they will receive a special quest. Those special quests were easy to do and have a high reward.
The Great Lumb opened its palm. Souta understood what it meant so he placed the stone on top of its palm. It then turned around and started to walked.
Souta followed the Great Lumb without hesitation. He gesture from behind and Yuko started to walked. She was confused and didn't know what's happening.
Swooosh!!
Suddenly the atmosphere changed. Souta looked around and found that they were in front of a beautiful lake. He then heard a system prompt in his head.
*Ding!*
[You've entered the Secret Ground of the Great Lumb!]
[Quest triggered!]
[Give Me]: the Great Lumb wants you to give him your treasure. Rewards: ???
Souta read the quest that he received. He just needed to give the Great Lumb his treasure. Just like what the forum said. The quest was easy but the reward was still unknown.
He picked up the bag that was hanging on his waist. He opened it and revealed the precious stones that he got from the Undead Sanctuary. These stones were valuable. It has a high price in the market.
He gave all the stones to the Great Lumb. But he still hasn't heard that he completed the quest. It means that it wasn't enough. He took out the three skill books and also gave it but it wasn't enough.
"I could get this anywhere. The most important is to complete the quest." Souta said in a low voice as he grabbed the staff on his back. He gave it to the Great Lumb.
*Ding!*
[Congratulations for completing the mission "Give Me"!]
[You've received a skill "Blessing of the Great"!]
Souta sighed in relief when he heard the notification. He doesn't know what to give if it still wasn't enough. No, he would give his leather armor or his pants. Thinking about this, he read the notification.
He was surprised as he received a skill from this quest. This simple quest gave him a skill? So that's why it called a special quest. The only downside of this quest was he could only do it once. Well, he couldn't learn the same skill twice.
There's no other player here. So he was thinking that he could monopolize all the special and hidden quests here.
"7hgy#kw"
Souta looked up as he heard the Great Lumb saying something he couldn't understand. It felt like it was important.
The Great Lumb stopped speaking and it quietly waved its hand.
Suddenly, he was back in the middle of the forest with Yuko. He looked around and saw that everything was still the same. It felt like that meeting the Great Lamb was a dream.
"Hu~"
He shook his head and checked the details of the skill that he received.
[Blessing of the Great]: The power of the Great Lumb. It enhances all the abilities of the user. Effect: +5 all stats, +20 mana
It's equal to one level up in High End Goblin. Well, this was enough for him as it could also help him.
"Let's go Yuko!" Souta said as he started to walk. Yuko quietly followed behind him.
...
The Great Lumb looked in the sky and said quietly, "The great change will start just like in the prophecy. I don't know whether it's good or bad that they brought you here in this world.
"The flames of destruction will slowly consume the whole world. Even the Gods will not be able to escape it. So what will you do Ieshi's savior?"
...
The two traveled at a very slow pace as Souta get the other things that he could sell. They ate together and sleep together. They would also hunt together. Even though he couldn't understand what she was saying it was enough for him. Traveling with someone was better than traveling alone. It's not boring, to begin with.
In the game, he preferred to travel alone as he knew that it was only a game. He could vaguely recall that he had friends outside the game. And he would help those friends of his sometimes in the quest in Battle Worlds Online.
A week had passed before they managed to get out of the forest. They experienced many things together this week.
"Finally!" Souta exclaimed as he looked at the vast grassland in front of him. He was riding on the back of Yuko and he could see far away.
"Good! Yuko, go ahead!" Souta said as he patted Yuko's head.
Roar!
Yuko roared in response to Souta. She then charged ahead at full speed. Her speed was slower than him but it was enough for him.
She could only vaguely understand his words but this was enough for him.
"Hmm?" Souta saw a small village. He squinted his eyes and patted Yuko. "Yuko, stop!"
Yuko stopped and she lifted up her head and looked at him with a confused expression. Souta got down and caressed her fur.
"It's okay, it's just a village."
Souta said and observed the village. The distance between him and the village was far. If he walks it would take him a few minutes.
Yuko looked at Souta and followed behind him. Every time that Souta took a step forward she would also step forward quietly behind him.
The village was quite lively. There's a reason for that. A merchant arrived here and was selling things from a large city and kingdom. The villagers always look forward to when a merchant caravan would arrive. They were looking forward to the things that the merchant brought.
"A merchant, huh?"
Souta turned around and face Yuko. He caressed her head and said, "No matter what happens, don't attack anyone."
Yuko tilted her head in confusion so he repeated his words. After he repeatedly said the same words, it was only then that Yuko understood what that means.
"Good, good girl." Souta smiled and patted her head. He then turned around and walked towards the village with Yuko.
...
"Ahhh!!"
"Monster!!"
"A monster is attacking us!!"
The villagers shouted at the same time. Their voices echoed in the whole village. The villagers started panicking especially the women. The men quickly went to their house and armed themselves with sharp weapons.
The merchant raised his eyebrows when he heard those words. He stood up and called his guards.
"Hey! Can we check it?"
The female guard nodded and called her comrades. Soon three more guards approached the merchant.
A man wearing an armor stepped forward and said, "Sir, a Red Fur Bear was in the entrance of the village!"
"A Red Fur Bear? Let's check it, if we can kill it we could get some money by selling it." The merchant said.
They arrived at the entrance and saw a huge bear with red fur. It looks dominating as it has a scar on its left eye. In front of the bear was a man with dark green colored skin. He was wearing a pair of gauntlets and leather armor. On his low body was a pants made from High Kobold's hide.
"A Demi...?" The merchant said when he saw Souta. He turned his head and shouted on the villagers, "Shut up! Is this your first time seeing a Demi!"
As a merchant that traveled from one place to another, he has seen a lot of different races. It not his first time seeing other races.
The merchant walked forward and took out something from his neck and put it in his ear. It looks like an earphone.
Souta widened his eyes when he saw this. This was the communicator that would let him converse to other races even if he couldn't understand their language.
"Good!"