Chang Long walked leisurely along a small path in the forest of Royal Cliff. Beasts rarely appeared because this area was part of the ascent. Chang Long continued her leisurely stroll, undisturbed by players or beasts.

"I wonder how high we need to go to encounter beasts that are on our level,"

Chang Long murmured to herself, still amused by those who had approached her earlier. By now, they must be frantically trying to save themselves.

'Aren't you quite cunning,'

Davy-chan praised with amazement, not expecting Chang Long to come up with such a bold escape plan.

'Hehe, I had to keep running away from two transgender who kept pestering me before,'

Chang Long replied cheerfully, remembering how she tricked the two transgender who annoyingly pestered her to become a model for them, leading to a chase by the guards under the mistaken belief they were a kidnap gang. She could not help but laugh at the memory of her mischief.

'What's a transgender?'

Davy-chan asked curiously, as the term was not in his database.

'Um, it's men who like to act and dress like women,'

Chang Long thought for a moment before trying to explain in simple terms.

'What! Someone who was born men but wanting to be women? There is such a person in this world? I cannot accept it!'

Davy-chan exclaimed, shocked.

'Yes, this world has all kinds of people. Not just men who want to be women, but women who want to be men too. But, you know, as long as they are good people, that should be enough, right? Why bother about external appearances!'

Chang Long smiled at Davy-chan, who looked even more bewildered.

'I don't understand! Isn't it better to live the way you are born? Anyway, aren't you going to let your little fox out for leveling? Letting him slack too much isn't good. He'll get fat and lazy, you know,'

Davy-chan changed the subject, feeling the conversation was getting too intense.

"Right, Unseal Kitsune!"

Chang Long, just remembering that Kitsune was not with her, extended her right hand with a silver ring forward and summoned him from the ring immediately.

'Greetings, Master Chang Long, Davy-chan,'

Kitsune, in the form of a flame fox, cheerfully greeted his owner.

'Hello, little one,'

Davy-chan responded.

'Where are we heading, Master?'

Kitsune eagerly asked after spending several hours resting in the ring.

'I'm thinking of going a bit higher to look for the beasts we want. There are still a few players around here,'

Chang Long answered.

'But your friends mentioned that the higher we go, the higher the level of the beasts. Will we be able to handle it?!'

Kitsune warned his master.

'Uh-huh, I know. But with Davy-chan and you, I think we can easily manage,'

Chang Long cheerfully replied.

'Missy, with your current level, I can only possess you for no more than an hour. If it's longer, your body will exceed its limit, causing you great pain. Even though you have the Black Rose, don't forget that if you're too weak to drink it, it's over. So, if you start feeling muscle pain, immediately summon me out, understand!?'

Davy-chan warned with concern.

'I know. Wait, what's that?!'

Chang Long noticed a large boulder beside the path moving. At first, she thought her eyes were deceiving her, so she went closer to inspect. The boulder, shaped somewhat like a large lizard, was hugging a big tree beside the path cherishingly. Chang Long pouted and curiously inspected around the stone lizard and the tree but found nothing unusual.

"What's with this crazy stone?"

Chang Long reached out to touch the five-meter-long lizard-shaped stone. Before retreating, shocked when she saw its eyes moving.

'What's wrong, Master?'

Kitsune asked upon seeing its owner startled and retreating from the boulder.

"Its eyes... its eyes moved,"

Chang Long tilted her head, looking at it with interest. The stone lizard, seemingly annoyed by being stared at, unwrapped itself from the tree and turned to face Chang Long.

"A level 65 Stone Lizard Beast King appears!"

The system's voice informed Chang Long, turning her pale. After having just teased others, now she was the one in trouble.

The stone lizard beast king looked at Chang Long with one eye, while the other eye still fixated on the tree. Chang Long thought there must be something precious in that tree, and surely, the stone lizard would not let her pass easily.

"Why does this tree have to be right in the middle of the only path here!"

Chang Long complained to herself, observing the narrow path, less than three meters wide, with one side being the sky and the other side where the tree hugged by the stone lizard stood was a tall cliff, leaving no escape except to go back the way she came.

'Seems it won't let us pass, Master,'

Kitsune observed the stone lizard beast king that completely blocked the way forward with concern.

'Look at its forehead, missy,'

Davy-chan cheerfully pointed out.

"What's on its forehead?"

Chang Long asked back and looked where Davy-chan indicated, noticing a yellow sand-colored orb the size of a ten-baht coin on the monster's forehead.

'Don't tell me that's another eye of element,'

Chang Long turned to ask Davy-chan, who was floating beside her. Davy-chan nodded after looking down at the Sovereign Sword and then back up at Chang Long.

"Wait, why didn't you tell me that the Eye of Fire could run out of energy before?"

Chang Long questioned Davy-chan, puzzled because as the previous owner of the Sovereign Sword, he must have known such details.

'...To be honest, I hardly remember the details of the items I once possessed. It's like they just disappeared one day. My memory retains only my own history; I can remember the appearance and names of items I've owned but not most of the details or their properties,'

Davy-chan replied with a downcast expression.

Chang Long nodded, thinking that Davy-chan's partial memory loss might be because the system wanted the possessor of the Pirate King's treasures to learn and discover these things on their own.

'It's okay, Davy-chan. Even if you don't tell me, I'm clever enough to find those answers myself. Wouldn't want to dishonor the great Pirate King Davy Jones as your successor, would I?'

Chang Long said to Davy-chan with a cheerful smile.

'...You're so full of yourself!'

Davy-chan snorted through his nose and turned away, but Chang Long still caught a glimpse of his cheeks turning a shade darker.

"Alright, I have no choice, do I? The path must be crossed, the eye must be collected. So, let's fight,"

Chang Long pointed the Sovereign Sword towards the stone lizard beast king with dignity, making Kitsune's eyes, who watched her actions, sparkle with admiration and utmost respect (crazy!).

The stone lizard beast king seemed to perceive Chang Long's challenge. It opened its wide mouth and quickly flicked its long, sticky tongue, with a knob at the end, towards Chang Long. She almost failed to dodge the attack due to posing too much.

"Whoa!"

Chang Long screamed out loud when she inadvertently jumped towards the edge of a steep cliff, looking down to see players below tiny as matchsticks.

'How foolish...'

Davy-chan facepalmed.

Siegfried, cloaked and fully concealing his face, hurried to the scene at full speed but found nothing except for players, both affiliated and unaffiliated, wandering around, and a dying fire. He felt increasingly anxious and tried to contact Chang Long but was unable to reach her. Thus, he decided to ask one of the nearby players.

"Excuse me, do you know if there was a... fight here recently?"

Siegfried asked a male player sitting nearby.

"A fight? ...Oh yes, there was. It looked like a four-against-one situation. But that young man was really something, managed to escape very slickly,"

the male player pondered for a moment before replying, seeming pleased.

"Escaped? Didn't they fight? Because I thought that fire was from a high-level sage,"

Siegfried continued, confused.

"Well, yes, but that fire wasn't used against players. That young man, the one who was troubled, ended up kicking a stone at a royal class beast's head, then disappeared without a trace. The group that troubled him ended up being chased by that beast instead. That fire you saw was from a sage in the group that went after that young man. It spread, blocking the entrance to Royal Cliff entirely, preventing anyone who wanted to check out the incident from getting through,"

the male player explained, noticing Siegfried's puzzled look.

"Uh... Thanks for telling me,"

Siegfried thanked him and considered going to check it out.

"No problem. But that young man is probably in real trouble now. The people he had an issue with belong to the Dark Horse Guild. This will definitely get him marked,"

the male player made a grim gesture.

"Dark Horse Guild!!"

Siegfried exclaimed, surprised.

"Yes, lucky for that young man, he didn't introduce himself. If they knew his name, he'd be hunted down to the point of not being able to play the game anymore."

Siegfried thanked the male player again and headed straight for the entrance to Royal Cliff. Once he found a place free of people, he tried calling Chang Long again, worried.

About one kilometer away from where Siegfried stood, a group of four players consisting of a mage, a priestess, a wandering martial artist, and a knight, were all panting and sprawled on the ground, exhausted. They were taking out various types of crystals and tossing them into their mouths, then lying back on the ground, completely drained.

"Are you stupid or crazy, Boron? Running towards its lair where its minions were waiting in droves!"

Lost Martial Artist lashed out at his knight friend lying next to him, exhausted. Boron did not respond but gave Lost Martial Artist a fierce look instead.

"Don't yell at others. It's you who started this mess. If you hadn't been so hasty to attack that guy, we wouldn't be in this state. Plus, we might have found out where that guy got his sword and outfit from,"

Rose, the priestess, scolded the Lost Martial Artist on behalf of Boron, who was not much of a talker.

"It's because he annoyed me. How could he dare to challenge us, even after knowing that we're from Dark Horse Guild??"

Lost Martial Artist argued back.

"It's true though. That guy didn't seem intimidated after hearing our guild's name,"

Merlin's Top Protege agreed, contemplating.

"Maybe he didn't know about us. Or maybe he's a new player,"

Rose suggested.

"There's no way anyone in this game wouldn't know about our guild!!"

Lost Martial Artist exclaimed proudly.

"And there's no way that guy is a new player... Think about it, what new player wears an outfit that was not even available in the system's store? And the sword on his waist is definitely not ordinary,"

Merlin's Top Protege stated, and everyone nodded in agreement with him.

"No matter how skilled he is, I'll make sure he won't be able to play this game ever again,"

Lost Martial Artist declared firmly with a resolute tone.

"Yet, he disappeared so quickly, even we couldn't catch up,"

Rose said while taking out cosmetics to freshen up her appearance, after running away from the beast had left her hair and makeup in disarray.

"He's just good at running away, that's all. No way he can escape me! But what about you guys, will you join me in hunting him down?"

Lost Martial Artist turned to ask his friends.

"I do want to meet him again. I want to find out about the outfit he was wearing and that sword,"

Merlin's Top Protege said, standing up.

"What Aek decides, I agree with,"

Rose turned to give Merlin's Top Protege a meaningful smile, which he sweetly returned.

"What do you say, Boron?"

Lost Martial Artist turned to ask Boron, who was lying down with his eyes closed beside him.

"I think... that person is a woman..."

Boron's response stunned everyone in a row.

"H...how do you know that person is a woman? Even Rose didn't know!"

Lost Martial Artist asked back, astonished.

Boron opened his eyes to look at his group members waiting for his answer. He sat up and looked at everyone with a profoundly serious gaze, causing his friends to unintentionally adopt a serious demeanor as well.

"That person has breasts, small though they may be. Her body is much slimmer compared to a man of the same height. Moreover, if she wore makeup, I don't think even Rose could compete..."

Boron replied earnestly.

"You mean... if that person wore makeup, she would be prettier than me...?!"

Rose asked with an icy voice, the deadly aura (of a woman) emanating from her.

"R... Rose, calm down, please. I'm sure Boron didn't mean it like that, right!"

Lost Martial Artist quickly interjected, knowing all too well the power of Rose's anger.

"Y... Yes, exactly! No one can be as beautiful as our Rose, right!"

 Merlin's Top Protege hastily agreed and then immediately turned to seek agreement from another ally, who unfortunately sat quietly, not joining in the reassurance, causing Rose, who was about to calm down, to flare up in anger again.

"Say it right now that I'm prettier than her, or you're dead, Boron!"

Rose shouted and lunged at Boron immediately. Luckily, two men managed to hold her back, preventing Boron from being punished on the spot.

"I speak as I think, and my thoughts are never wrong..."

Boron replied with a calm face, showing no fear of Rose.

"Enough already, we know you're never wrong, but could you lie just once to cool Rose down, huh?!"

Lost Martial Artist shouted at his friend, causing Rose, who was about to beat Boron to death, to turn her murderous gaze towards him instantly.

"What did you say...? You're dead meat, Lost Martial Artist!"

Rose shifted her target from Boron to Lost Martial Artist instead. Situations like this often reversed unexpectedly, as Lost Martial Artist was hot-headed and foul-mouthed, whereas Boron was quiet and did not speak often. But when he did speak, he always provoked someone into wanting to punch him.

Merlin's Top Protege, too lazy to intervene, let Rose chase Lost Martial Artist, who ran faster than a monkey. He then sat down next to Boron.

"Do you think she has something special enough for us to find her?"

Merlin's Top Protege asked.

"Yes!"

Boron answered succinctly.

"Phew! That's a relief. Otherwise, Lost Martial Artist would have made a huge fuss. If I report this and the guild leader doesn't approve the hunt, well, the guild leader usually trusts your intuition anyway,"

Merlin's Top Protege sighed in relief, then stood up to call the two who were chasing each other to return to the rendezvous point to meet up with the guild members who were catching up, as they had already wasted enough time.

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