Blue Maple bid farewell to Capricious Mr. White and the others as he left to search for an inn. Hotels had a few rooms for players to stay, but they were probably fully booked, as they were much more convenient for eating.

Blue Maple quickly found an inn and booked a room. He didn’t plan to train today as the sky was going to be dark soon. He wasn’t that crazy, and he wasn’t that hard working either, not to mention training was something that he wasn’t interested in. Blue Maple was training only because one’s level was important and necessary for a relatively more comfortable life in the game.

Blue Maple was always lazy, and he wouldn’t switch cities that easily, but…

------

Blue Maple was lying down on his bed when he casually opened the Chinese and Japanese forums, and then opened the video about himself. Blue Maple was speechless, especially when he saw the title the Japanese players had given him.

“Bluefire Devil… What an interesting title,” Blue Maple muttered under his breath.

Blue Maple got up and went to the windowsill, gazing out into the distance. The window was facing west, and he could faintly see some dim lights from the setting sun beyond the thick, dark clouds.

I think people are paying attention to me now… Blue Maple suddenly said something strange, almost like he was lamenting, as he stared outside the window at the players thronging through the streets.

Several organizations’ senior members would already be monitoring him after they watched his battle with Crippled Feather, without even considering his fight in the Japanese region when the sky burned with fire.

Crippled Feather was Tian Cha, the king of the the newest generation of assassins, and was actually defeated by some unknown player. People would have a hard time not paying attention to Blue Maple.

“I’ve miscalculated. I didn’t think such things would be recorded and circulated. I didn’t think these people could be that bored...”

Blue Maple sounded like he was describing something that he had lost, yet there wasn’t a single tinge of regret in his tone, almost like this was something that he was entirely indifferent about.

His duel with Crippled Feather in the Mercenary Union actually happened very quickly, and was very brief. Crippled Feather suddenly went invisible before he attacked and subsequently failed. Blue Maple didn’t expect someone to be able to record it.

Are these people that bored? I can understand if we were talking for too long, and the conversation built up into a potential fight. Do these people record any player with some reputation?, Blue Maple thought to himself, confused. He was clueless about groupies, gossip, and whatnot, and he could only attribute everything to boredom if he forced himself to rationalize their behavior.

I lowered my guard because I wasn’t recorded back at Novice Village. Seems like the old man was responsible for making sure that I wasn’t recorded back then. Looks like the old man has quite a lot of authority. An interesting idea came to Blue Maple. Perhaps he could get the old man to do interesting things for him using his authority...

Forget it. I should sleep, so that I can accept a quest early in the morning tomorrow. But it might be too early to sleep. Blue Maple stopped thinking about all those things. He should just follow the game’s script in the game world.

Blue Maple wanted to switch cities partially because he wanted to see if other places were more interesting or exciting. There was another reason; because people were paying attention to him!

Blue Maple just wanted to avoid trouble. Finding Blue Maple’s body in real life was impossible, after all.

------

Dawn, the next day...

Blue Maple had gone to bed too early, and he woke up early as a result. Sunrise was late during winter, and Blue Maple was used to sunrise in springtime all year round. He was up a lot earlier than usual.

The streetlamps were still lit. Everything was cold and quiet, and Blue Maple felt a little speechless.

I’ll just head out for breakfast. Eateries must be quite empty right now, but I wonder if breakfast places have opened…, Blue Maple thought to himself as he put on his clothes and left.

The Mercenary Union was manned every single hour of the day, so Blue Maple finished breakfast early and went off to accept a quest.

What quest should I take this time? I didn’t level up even after completing an SSS-rank quest yesterday. Leveling up is so troublesome nowadays. Blue Maple followed his electronic map towards the Mercenary Union as he contemplated which quest he to pick.

Blue Maple didn’t know that Hidden Classes required more XP for leveling up than other classes, and the required amount was determined by the class Rank. Blue Maple basically completed yesterday’s quest by himself, but normal players would have already leveled up twice from that.

But that assessment was based on a normal player completing an SSS-rank quest, which didn’t apply to Blue Maple. Furthermore, that wasn’t truly an SSS-rank quest, as the system assigned that difficulty because Blue Maple’s level was comparatively low, while the quest that he had accepted was too highly ranked. The system eventually gave the quest an SSS-rank difficulty according to how normal players would be judged.

---

Blue Maple arrived at the Mercenary Union’s entrance. He glanced around and realized that the building was no different from other cities. They shared the same structure, and he lost interest as he just walked in directly to choose a quest.

The first thing he saw were the quest boards dotting the walls around him, except every information desk was empty. There was only a single NPC in the middle of the room, recording something with his head lowered. That should be the NPC on shift, and Blue Maple could also accept a quest through him.

The entire hall was spacious and empty as the day was still extremely early. The eatery that Blue Maple had breakfast in had also been empty, and he had finished breakfast quietly and alone. However, he didn’t find that unpleasant at all, as he desired peace and quiet in the first place. This was the best outcome for him.

Blue Maple didn’t waste any words or small talk and he walked up to the NPC. “I’m here to accept a quest.”

“Oh, okay. Please wait, sir.” The NPC heard Blue Maple and looked up for a few moments before he replying politely. He finished up with his own affairs before he responded to Blue Maple properly.

“What kind of quest would you like to accept? Or, which quest have you already chosen?”

“The quest with the highest rank, as long as it’s not about killing wild monsters.” Blue Maple was sick and tired of killing wild monsters, and was done with that.

“Alright, sir. Please wait while I help you search for one.” The NPC began searching for quests that fitted Blue Maple’s description.

The NPC finished searching after a few moments; it seemed many quests were about slaughtering wild monsters and beasts.

“Okay, sir. There are three quests which are relatively suitable. There are two S-rank quests and one SS-rank quest. These are the quests, please have a look.” A panel listing all the quests appeared in front of Blue Maple.

===

[Exterminating Treants] (S-rank Quest)

[Mutated Wind Element] (S-rank Quest)

[Capturing the Bandit, Red] (SS-rank Quest)

===

I can consider the first quest. The last quest seems very troublesome, but the second one… Blue Maple scanned the three listed quests and deliberated.

“Since there are quests about Wind Elementals, are there any quests with Fire Elementals or Ice Elementals?” Blue Maple was lazy because he could easily complete them if there really were some.

“I’m sorry. There is no news right now about mutated Fire Elementals or Ice Elementals. Elementals aren’t typically aggressive, so we don’t have any quests posted to hunt and kill them.” The NPC sounded apologetic as he answered.

“Oh. Let me take a look at the quest Exterminating Treants, then.” Blue Maple lamented a little as he couldn’t slack anymore.

“Alright, here.” The NPC handed the quest’s contents over for Blue Maple to read.

===

[Exterminating Treants] (S-rank Quest): There have been many evil Treants propagating in the Koya Jungle south of Aika City. They have been wantonly devouring living beings passing by. Hopefully the city will send someone to destroy them.

===

Seems relatively easy. I’ll take this one. Perhaps Heavenly Fire can burn them very effectively. Blue Maple couldn’t help but think about Heavenly Fire, as that could be extremely effective against wood-type monsters.

Blue Maple said to the NPC, “I’ll take this one.”

“Okay. This is the quest card, please keep it carefully.” The NPC handed the quest card to Blue Maple.

---

Blue Maple exited the Mercenary Union after stowing away the quest card, and headed directly to his destination. He didn’t need to resupply, as he didn’t consume much after yesterday’s endeavor, and only used a few consumables like mana potions.

Blue Maple had forgotten all about teleportation scrolls to bring him back to the city. The scrolls weren’t as useful as Heavenly Fire was, because those scrolls would only take him back to the city’s Teleportation Portal. Blue Maple could use Heavenly Fire to send himself straight back into his room, so those scrolls couldn’t even compare. However, Blue Maple had to conserve Heavenly Fire so that he didn’t use too much of it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have enough to teleport himself!

---

An hour went by. Blue Maple killed some random small monsters along the way as he reached the Treants’ territory, and finally saw the first Treant.

===

[Treant] (Rank 48)

Attack: 411-561

Defense: 350-484

Magic Defense: 222-289

HP: 4200

Skills: Root Trap, Vine Whip, Leaf Blades

Introduction: Any forest or jungle can breed Treants, among other creatures, but typical Treants wouldn’t be so violent or aggressive as to attack any living creature that they come across. However, these Treants seem very violent and aggressive. Be careful.

===

Are Snow Wolves naturally stronger? Their ranks are so similar, but these monsters have one Skill less. Skeletons and jiangshi, too, Blue Maple thought to himself curiously. But that shouldn’t be what he should be thinking about; he should be concerned about how to kill the Treant in front of him! Perhaps, he could try using Heavenly Fire against these Treants to test if Heavenly Fire dealt bonus damage.

I’ll try my Skill first. Blue Maple was more careful this time, and wouldn’t be complacent and fool around because of his quick reflexes and versatility.

Blue Maple hurled a pillar of Heavenly Fire at the Treant not far from him.

Bam! -234!

The Treant had a lower Defense value than the Jiangshi that he had encountered, and it also had a lower rank. The damage value was similar to when he fought the Jiangshi, so the Treant should also be afraid of Heavenly Fire.

The Treant realized that it had been attacked, and its furious retaliation quickly followed.

Leaf Blades!

Countless leaves resembling flying knives hurtled toward Blue Maple. Blue Maple was already prepared for this attack, and dodging those leaves was as easy as it could be.

Tch, tch, tch…

A series of leaves as sharp as knives buried themselves into the trunk of a tree behind where Blue Maple had been standing. Some leaves cut into tree branches, and sliced them into half as they continued flying.

The Treant’s attacks are relatively quick, but I can still dodge them. Blue Maple quickly marked this Skill as “safe”.

But Blue Maple didn’t lower his guard, because the Treant had two other Skills!

Eh? It’s coming! Blue Maple suddenly felt a strange movement beneath his feet, and decisively used Airborne Somersault to jump into the air.

Boom! Multiple roots erupted from the ground where Blue Maple had been standing. Fortunately his reaction was quick, or he would have been in trouble if those roots trapped him.

However, Blue Maple didn’t stop after dodging that attack... because the Treant still had one more Skill!

Indeed. Blue Maple watched as vines emerged from the Treant and whipped toward him. He didn’t panic, even though he was in mid-air.

You think I can’t dodge? Yes, typical players may be able to dodge your previous attack if their reactions are quick, and they’ll evade the roots from the ground if they jump into the air. But they have to take a hit from Vine Whip, whatever they do. But… Blue Maple was still thinking calmly.

Airborne Somersault’s second stage!

But I’m not a typical player! Blue Maple continued thinking as Airborne Somersault sent him shooting towards the Treant’s position.

Blue Maple landed on the ground. Hidden Attack!

The slaughter had begun!