"Do you know about the Golden Country?"
"Never heard of it."
With the topic closed, Blaze began to wonder if he should just pretend the Night Watcher Profession didn’t exist and try to acquire the Hunter Profession again.
This chicken was simply too useless. It spoke in an experienced tone, acting as if it had been around since ancient times, yet it was completely ignorant about anything outside the forest. Blaze even suspected that the Tree of Life gave him the Night Watcher Profession just so he would take this guy away.
"When do you plan to defeat those Traitors and save the forest?" the chicken asked, floating around Blaze aimlessly, seemingly urging him on or perhaps just trying to make conversation.
"Those are not enemies I can defeat right now."
"The Great Stars" hung over his head like a sword. Although it wouldn’t fall anytime soon, it constantly made his scalp tingle with anxiety.
Currently, whether it was the Kingdom or the Foreigners, they all merely viewed the Hundred-Womb Ganges as a disaster that endlessly spawned Monsters. They were completely unaware that twelve terrifying beasts were lying dormant beneath the Hundred-Womb Ganges, let alone that an entity no less formidable than a Titan Giant was peering at this world.
Recalling how the Titan Giants once ravaged the world, Blaze couldn’t help but shiver.
"Why don’t you just let the Foreigners defeat those Traitors for you? Those guys can even defeat the Titan Evil Gods; they are Monsters among Monsters."
"No. I need to help the Foreigners gain Honor Points right now. How could I push them into a fire pit?"
Blaze shook his head in refusal, but the chicken flew right in front of him and stopped, its face completely serious.
"Say, don’t you know about that disease Foreigners have?"
"What disease?"
"Growth Period."
For a moment, Blaze thought the chicken just wanted to mess with him. However, it seemed the chicken had never lied, nor did it ever joke around. Combined with its incredibly serious expression, Blaze found himself turning serious as well.
"Are you serious?"
"This might be a side effect of crossing over into this world. Every single Foreigner has a severe mental illness.
"Growth Period. Once the disease acts up, Foreigners will enter a terrifyingly obsessed state. They will do all kinds of unimaginable things—crawling along walls to peep into other people’s houses, rummaging through trash cans, destroying treasure chests, killing everyone they see, and even trying out various bizarre ways to die.
"Moreover, the more powerful a Foreigner is, the more susceptible they are to this terrible disease.
"I once saw a Foreigner take off their equipment and lie on the ground, constantly getting attacked by venomous bees while clamoring about wanting to acquire Poison Invalid."
"How severe does that disease have to be for someone to do something so mindless?" Blaze muttered in disbelief. He had already believed most of what the chicken said. He had always stayed in Balkan City before, so his understanding of Foreigners was indeed one-sided.
"So, all you need to do is tell the Foreigners the locations of the Traitors. Not only will it help cure their mental illness and get them those Honor Points or whatever, but it will also save the forest. It’s a total win-win situation."
"Then I have to head to Balkan City immediately. First, I’ll tell Marika about the issue with the Hundred-Womb Ganges, and then I’ll pass the information on to the Foreigners."
Blaze started running while simultaneously checking his inventory. Asking Foreigners to do things required offering up some kind of reward. Judging by the reactions of the Spear Knight and Precept Monk he had teamed up with earlier, the Cannibal Sheep must be a rare Monster. Therefore, the Cannibal Sheep materials should be enough to satisfy the Foreigners.
"Marika?"
"My friend. She’s the Leader of the Royal Knight Order on the frontlines fighting the Monsters spawned by the Hundred-Womb Ganges. She’s super amazing. Her Level has already exceeded the maximum limit." When speaking of Marika, Blaze’s tone carried a hint of pride.
"Ooh—" the chicken let out a drawn-out, ambiguous sound and then fell silent.
Blaze encountered quite a few Monsters along the way. Although his plan to head to the Golden Tree Sea had fallen through, the Natural Guidance brought by the Forest Blessing would still issue a warning whenever a Titan Hybrid appeared nearby.
After the Forest Blessing upgraded to D, the bonus to Agility reached fifteen percent, allowing Blaze to return to Balkan City much faster than before.
"Say, you aren’t going to rely on your two legs to travel from now on, are you?" the chicken asked as it floated behind Blaze’s head like a kite. It didn’t have to exert any effort at all; the Night Watcher’s contract acted as an incredibly tough kite string between it and Blaze.
"Teleportation Magic has strict requirements for Intelligence and Profession. I can’t learn it, and Teleportation Artifacts are far too expensive," Blaze replied, also beginning to mull over the issue.
Although he wouldn’t feel fatigued from running for long periods now, that was only for commuting between Balkan City and the Hundred-Womb Ganges. If he ever had to travel to more distant places, fatigue wouldn’t be the main issue—he probably needed a mount or some sort of transportation.
"Watch out!"
The chicken suddenly shouted a warning. Blaze only had enough time to raise the Twisted Greatsword to guard his side before a cold gleam slashed over.
It was an unimaginable strike. Even Danger Perception didn’t have time to react. The previously unstoppable Twisted Greatsword was sliced in half like tofu. The surrounding ground, along with the hillside behind him, was completely flipped and blasted away.
[Nemean Lion Hide 4/12]
He wondered what in the world that strike had been just now.
Blaze lowered the Twisted Giant Sword with great difficulty as a tall figure slowly walked toward him.
It was Armor engraved with a Hero strangling a lion. It was a bone sword drawn from the tail vertebrae of a Giant Snake. It was a hem fashioned with Griffin wings, a garment awarded only to a Hero of the Kingdom.
[Flying Brick]
Level: 99+
Profession: ???
Power: 2521
Agility: 950
Intelligence: 250
Faith: 56
Skill: ???
Magic: ???
Equipment: ???
Accessory: ???
A stat panel as strong as a Monster’s, yet he was not a Monster. He was a Foreigner.
It looked like a simple sword swing, but it had instantly consumed more than half of the Nemean Lion Hide’s protective charges in one go.
"Oh? You’re clearly just a Monster from the beginner zone, yet you actually survived a slash from me."
The Foreigner named Flying Brick casually walked over with a Skeleton Sword slung over his shoulder. Although he seemed full of openings, his terrifying aura alone was enough to make Blaze’s body tense up.
"I’ll give you time to heal. Once you’re fully recovered, I’ll use my ultimate move—"
Flying Brick suddenly froze. The pitch-black, battered Armor, the Wild Beast-like posture... It was his childhood nightmare, the Black Beast Knight, and also the current hot topic on the forums.
He recalled the current rumors: there might be a hidden storyline where the boss turned into a friendly NPC who performed emergency rescues for players in the wild, gifted them a special Copper Coin worth 500,000 Gold Coins, and most importantly—could be invited to a party.
He had shouldered his guild’s mission to come to the beginner zone to find Black Beast Knight Blaze. He never expected the Black Beast Knight to be draped in a Lion Skin. By not paying attention for a split second, he had almost chopped his mission objective down like a random wild mob.
"Oh my gosh, are you alright?!"
Flying Brick instantly put away his weapon and helped Blaze up, terrified that his attack might have marked him as an enemy.