After walking on the endless stair of this soo-tall-of-a-tower, I was met with nothingness at the end of the platform, and I can see how bad it would be if I were to fall.

“Lord Hedrick pointed me out to this place when I asked him about where I can find Madam Goolag, but…”

As I stepped on the edge of the platform.

*Brrm*

“Gyaaah!”

I would’ve totally fell right there had my feet weren’t tightly making out with each other.

A piece of the platform is floating mid-air and I hold on to the levitating platform until reaching the center of the library where I was pulled up on a narrow space at a super-fast speed to the top, “Gwoooaaaaahh!”

*Woosh*

“Haa… Haa… I thought I was gonna die there.”

“If an immortal body can die so easily, there will be less of them outside.”

That voice, it’s very eerily familiar. When I turn my head around to see it, I see myself sitting on a chair.

“What the—”

*Bam*

“Ouch!” the damn platform disappeared all of a sudden, “Wait, what is this… am I dreaming again or what?”

“This for sure, is not it, my dear.”

Seeing myself standing up. Wearing the same clothing, having the same face, the same hair as my ‘Avatar’ for this character. The only explanation I can come up with it is, “Madam Goolag?”

Raising her arms, she swiftly turns into a pitch-black slime. It's quite tall, about half of me and slim for a slime since many of them are fat, “What do you need, my dear?

“Um, right, I’ll be going to the surface soon, and I wonder if you have a task for me.”

“Hmm… Yes, I sure do have one for you right now. Go fetch me whatever Alchemical Ingredients you can find on the surface. Depending on what you will bring, I'll reward you with all things knowledge about the Arcane.”

! {New Quest has been given}

~ {Dark Arts / Rank F / Objective: Collect any Alchemical Ingredients you can find on the surface and offer all of them to Goolag / Reward: Access (?) Inaccessible Book in the Grand Archive of Purgatory}

“Oh, I actually have a few on me right now. Wonder if they're any good?”

“Terra Crystal and Heart of our little imp, eh, these won’t do my dear as I have plenty of these to give you the reward, but this Tear of the Goddess. Where did you find such a thing? Is it one of the abilities of a Wonderer?”

“Oh, you already knew that I’m…”

“Yes of course, all of us know it by now. I’ll take that as a yes, but this too is not enough for me to give you any access to these lovely books.”

“Ahh, no. Hehe, I was just giving it to you is all. I’ll be sure to return with loads of Alchemical Ingredients later on.”

“Oh my, how kind of you. Then, I’m looking forward to what you will bring, and since you have sincerely given me this, I’ll give you a bonus if you manage to satisfy me with the items.”

! {Quest Updated}

~ {Dark Arts / Rank F / Objective: Collect any Alchemical Ingredients you can find on the surface and offer all of them to Goolag / Reward: Access (?) Inaccessible Book in the Grand Archive of Purgatory / Additional Reward: ???}

That’s quite an odd name for this kind of Quest, but whatever.

I returned to the bottom floor and met lord Hedrick who is waiting for me by the staircase, holding a leather with the same drawing of a red house.

“Ah yes, I’m ready.”

He handed to me the leather and aimed his hand at my head, bright light radiates from it and I can feel the warmth seeping up from below. It’s very different from the portal miss Replica made for me before.

Quite an odd feeling, I’m already familiarized myself with this castle, or at least this library being my home. I hope this feeling will return when I come back.

***

My eyes went static for a moment, but once it's fully adjusted, they're showing me the lush green wilderness that I am in.

! {Great Forest of Sylph}

“Home of the Fairies, I see… but which layer is it?”

Each layer of this forest represents its difficulty. More powerful monsters dwelling as one walks deeper into the layer.

“Green, cold atmosphere, almost soothing…”

“Yeah, it’s the outer layer.”

There are 4 layers in this forest.

First, which is the one I’m standing on right now. The Outer layer has a green scenery that is very similar to a real magical forest and the Middle/Mid layer where the scenery changes and vibe changes to autumn.

Then, there is the Deep layer where powerful monsters above level 100 or so, lives. The scenery is all about blood, smelling like a battlefield.

And finally, there is the Core layer – which is to be believed where the “Fairies” resides, making it their home base.

I haven’t been there myself because this place is considered one of the low-level areas despite the Deep layer’s monsters are at least level 100 at minimum.

As I traverse through the environment, I recalled something, “Hmm, I remember that player, Galax, told me that he got swept by a teleporting whirlpool in this place.”

If by chance it was not a coincidence, things might be bad.

“Should keep my eyes open for it.”

*Hiss*

That sound... it's right behind me. When I turned my head towards it, I instinctively use Appraisal, ‘Oh right, I forgot that I no longer—’

==== Quick Inspect ====

Sirpina-DiKatakagea / Level: 13 / Demonic-Reptile / Health: 8.000

==== Quick Inspect ====

Oh wait, turns out, I still have it – I thought for sure that the magic that was imbued within my eyes by miss Replica would disappear when I leave the faction.

The monster is a giant black snake, scaled with a rocky texture on—

*Boom*

It actually leaves no idle time for me to think.

"Hey, gimme a minute!"

Too bad for him though, my [Wall of Stone] is already up. I took my trusty weapon out of the inventory.

{Rooted Spirit Axe / Rank F / Rare / Physical Attack: 20 / Magical Attack: 15 / Innate Ability: Can be used as a Catalyst}

The lore has said the reason why weapons and something similar to equipment have the ranking system that is the same as the ranking in the Adventurer Guild is that the 4th Goddess, Mary, implemented them.

“And boy oh boy, how useful and useless it is at the same time.”

“Ignition.”

As my body went aflame, I swing the axe vertically up and bring another wall up. Hitting the snake’s head, my favorite spell is waiting for it pops up.

Sparks of ember on my palm, “Combustion!”

*Bwooooooooooosh*

{+580 Exp}

The trail of flame flowing out of my mouth made the edge of my lips tilted, “Ahaa… so I can activate it without using Ignition,” the lovely smell of burnt carcass revived me from the boredom of reading books all week, “Hehe, I’m back, Ekolia.”

…

About two hours have passed and I can finally see the exit of this beautiful forest.

Close in the distance, “That a town?”

“Looks more like a village if anything though.”

Just wooden houses scattered around, no patrols, no guards, and there’s not even a blacksmith which I was hoping for at least. Just a few people farming and there seem to be mining tools in the area, so there might be a mine nearby. Wonder if it’s safe.

I'm looking for a good farming spot for exp. Back then, I never actually grind much since I always prefer exploring instead.

“Is that…?”

“Hush, might be an adventurer. Go, go…”

Light whispers at the far back of my ears, I have good senses, but how I wish I can toggle it off sometimes.

‘There’s no players here?’

‘Welp, that sucks.’

Part of my system function is still bugged, but I can still trade with them without having to worry about it.

'Can’t even send reports or even message somebody. I wonder how Galliano is doing right now.'

And I’m no longer in the Desolated Sector, which means that I won’t be able to meet him again in real life. That’s quite… unfortunate.

“Excuse me, madam.”

‘Madam?’

An old skinny man approached me and behind him, a few well-built people with farming tools in their hands. They seem to be nervous to be on guard from such a small little girl like me - maybe my hair got something to do with it.

“May I ask you why have you come to our village?”

“Just passing through."

“O-Oh, I see.”

Some wipe the sweat off their forehead while the old man sighed in relief. No wait, maybe they know something that house, “Know anything about this?”

“Hm?” his eyes widened, “B-Blood?!”

“No, I’m not talking about the material, I’m talking about the drawing.”

“A-Ahh,” he inspected it for a moment before saying, “I think I’ve seen this house before but why are you looking for it?”

“…” let’s see, maybe I should say this, “A friend of mine lost something in there, I’m just here to retrieve it but he kind of forgot to tell me where it is.”

“I-I see, no wonder the house looks to be abandoned. It’s in the far west from here, just behind the small hill.”

“Any monsters in the area?”

“As far as I know. Um, there doesn’t seem to be anything that would be of a huge threat to you, madam.”

“Is that so?”

Well, that’s quite useful. I supposed I should give something in return for the info.

{Health Potion / Tier 3 / Recover 30% of Maximum Health}

I still have a lot of it left among a few other options that I’ve bought from Galax for trading the books I’ve read and used.

“Here, as thanks.”

“Ahh, you don’t have to.”

“Just take it, and why are you being so nervous at an outsider? Haven’t seen one before or something?”

As he nervously takes my potion, “That’s not it, madam. It’s just that the number of bandits around this area has increased recently, and some of them even visit us from time to time. To take the hard-earned harvest we have, and even, taking some of the young women here.”

“Oh?” well, this place is quite an easy mark for them since there’s a wall at all, “And you didn’t fight back?”

“We…” looking at the men behind him, they all made a hardened expression.

“What about the lord in the area?”

“Um, we’ve sent a couple of requests for a few guards to hold off against the bandits before the winter, but it passed with no armored men coming.”

The men behind him mumbled, “Even Travelers don’t come around this part.”

'Man, talking to another one of my kind like this really makes me feel like I'm talking to a real person and not an A.I."

And there is one right here though, Traveler. Still, should I help them? Not that taking a group of bandits would actually help them since there are countless of them out there.

“That’s quite unfortunate.”

“Ah yes, we're um... apologize for taking your time.”

Waving goodbye, I left the village and walked in the direction I was told by the old man. Surprisingly, I walked into a forest again, but not the Great Forest of Sylph, just a normal unnamed forest. There is even a small river I can follow.

“Right, this seems to be the perfect time to test that new skill I got.”

{Sovereign Ritual / Summon a creature from the outer plane unreachable by the gods to form a contract / Mana Consumption: Varied / Requirement: None}