Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 225 Black Iron Dwarf

The mithril ore vein of the Eastern continent was located in the south west. The size of the map was neither small or large, but was surrounded by lvl50 monsters. With the current level of the players, they could only look on from afar. The area was also full of smoke spewing volcanoes, which caused the air to be scorching hot. If players were not well prepared then they would receive a “heat damage” status which would cause a continuous drop in health.

It was very easy to die before finding a supply camp.

The environment here was harsh and unforgiving with many high level Lesser Demons. This was enough to act as a deterrent for most players.

Ye Ci spent a long time in an attempt to activate the ore vein before finally heading to the nearby supply camp in search of clues. There would usually be a supply camps in a map that are far away from cities such as this. These camps could be set up by NPCs at any location of a map. Finding one depended on a player’s luck when exploring a map. If one was lucky, they would be able to find one quickly. If one was unlucky, then they might have to explore almost the entire map before finding a supply camp.

Naturally, as a reincarnator, it was easier for Ye Ci to explore maps than other players. Once she entered the “Lesser Demons Sanctuary”, she headed straight for the supply camp and opened up a transfer point before exploring the area around the mithril vein.

Unfortunately, even after a few days Ye Ci was unable to make any progress with the mithril vein. Finally, she gave up and returned to the supply camp to see if the NPCs there could provide any clues.

After returning to the supply camp, Ye Ci first had a long conversation with all the NPCs, but depressingly, none of them even mentioned the mithril vein. She did, however, received a number of quests. Although she was anxious to locate the mithril vein, Ye Ci knew that it definitely was not easy for Golden Age to locate the vein in her last life. There must be a way – she just had to find it. What she needed to do now was to take another look around in case she missed any clues.

Since she made up her mind to not give up until the mithril vein was found, Ye Ci decided to first complete the quests. With her current level at lvl60 and her top quality equipment, it was not hard for her to complete the lvl55 quests here, even the ones that require a 3-man party.

It usually did not take long for high leveled players to complete lower levelled quests, and Ye Ci was no exception. The quests that she accepted would have taken a lvl55 player approximately a day or two to complete, but it only took Ye Ci three hours.

Receive quest, do quest, receive quest, do quest. That was the most commonly used method to gain levels. Although Ye Ci was currently at the level cap and was unable to receive any experience, she did receive a number of gold, prestige and other rewards. In the end, Ye Ci did not gain any clues from the NPCs, but if she sold the equipment she received as quest rewards, it would come to a nice sum.

“Oh elf, my friend, I am very thankful for everything you have done for me. My leg has been feeling much better after using the herbs you picked for me.” Ye Ci had completed all but one of the quests received from the NPCs at this hidden village. The only one left was from a female dwarf named Jasmine.

The quests given by Jasmine were all very easy, from picking up rocks to digging up herbs to killing Lesser Demons, but the rewards were noticeably higher than the other NPCs. At first Ye Ci did not notice, but after a few rounds of quests, she discovered the unique existence of this NPC.

Such easy quests but such high rewards was definitely not an overlooked BUG. There must be something more to this. As a reincarnator, Ye Ci was sensitive to these kinds of things. If she still could not pick up these clues even after reincarnating, then it would have been a complete waste of her reincarnation.

Considering Fate’s utterly enormous hidden quest system, Ye Ci was very careful while carrying out Jasmine’s quests. She never skipped the conversation and carefully read each word before deciding on a reply. Ye Ci did not want to miss a hidden quest like this.

“Really? It is my greatest honor to be able to help you.” Ye Ci was full of smiles, and her words were gentle, even bowing slightly towards Jasmine.

Jasmine was a dwarf, but not a stereotypical dwarf. Unlike dwarven players, she was a Black Iron dwarf. The history of the continent contained records that indicated there were three subspecies of dwarves, differentiated by the colour of their skin. One was White Dwarves, the species of dwarven players. Another one was the Black Iron Dwarves with black skin, and the other was called Fire Dwarves, with skin as red as fire.

These three tribes were originally under the leadership of the Dwarf King Mokemoduo, but after his death, the three tribes all wanted to choose one of their own warriors to succeed as the Dwarf King which caused large scale fighting. At last, the dwarves, a race only second to humans, divided into three.

The White Dwarves had always been on good terms with humans, and received the most help from humans in the battle for succession. Thus, the White Dwarves received the best land in the Dwarven territory, and established a close and long lasting relationship with humans, spreading across the four continents. Black Iron Dwarves however, were originally a reclusive kind, and had the smallest population amongst the three tribes. They were the first to be defeated, but their elders signed a ceasefire with the White Dwarves and the Black Iron Dwarves left to explore the furthest corners of the continents. As the last tribe to fall, the Fire Dwarves were not as lucky as the Black Iron Dwarves. The White Dwarves not only occupied all of the Fire Dwarf territory, but also chased them out of the four continents.

This was the main reason that players still had yet to meet a Fire Dwarf on their own continent. However, following the resource pack expansion, the appearance of the Fire Dwarves would cause a surge in the number of exploring players. Of course, this all would happen later. Right now finding the mithril vein was first priority.

Fighting was not in a dwarf’s nature. Although they did not fear it, and could be brave warriors, their interest did not lay in war. They were similar to dragons in that they liked sparkly things such as gems and precious ores. It was because of this that dwarves had naturally solid builds; they were all natural born miners. In the days they did not fight, they lived underground mining various ores and gems. This habit was ingrained in the bones of all three tribes.

Thus, on every continent, if you looked carefully, there would always be a dwarf near a mine among the NPCs.

Perhaps it was because of this that the nature loving elves disdained the dwarves. They believed that the dwarves were covered in a disgusting copper scent. Likewise, the dwarves also harbored dislike towards the proud elves that could only sing and dance. However, they tolerated each other as both races were close allies of the humans.

It was due to the tension between the dwarves and elves that Ye Ci was extremely careful while interacting with Jasmine, neither servile or overbearing, in order to gain the female Black Iron Dwarf’s trust.

“You are the most good natured elf I’ve ever seen,” Jasmine nodded approvingly at Ye Ci. Curling her lip, Jasmine looked in disgust at a nearby sleeping elf NPC, “other elves are so annoying but it seems that there are good elves too.”

Ye Ci would naturally not interfere in matters between NPCs. Smiling peacefully, she only stood to the side listening to Jasmine while not expressing any opinion.

After Jasmine spoke for a while, her stomach suddenly started growling, and embarrassment could be seen on her face.

Ye Ci did not laugh but kindly advised, “You really need to eat a lot to heal when you’re injured.”

“Oh yes, that is indeed true,” laughed Jasmine bashfully, “I am actually quite hungry, but I really don’t want to eat dwarven bread anymore. Do you know how sick I am of eating dwarven bread everyday? I heard that food made by elves is very delicious, i’ve always wanted to try some but never had the opportunity. Can you fulfill this wish of mine?”

“Of course, I am willing.”

This was an open quest. The NPC did not mention what she wanted to eat, but only requested elven food. This range was too broad. In Fate, there were the common recipes for Life skills, but each race had their own secret recipes. Many players only learned the common recipes as their prestige among other races was too low, which made it impossible to learn the recipes of other races. Ye Ci was not an exception. Although she was a reincarnator and knew the importance of having a high Prestige among other races, she did not have the time or energy to do so.

It looked like raising her Prestige would have to wait.

Luckily, the food Jasmine requested was an elven dish. As an elven huntress, cooking was a necessary skill, and Ye Ci had learnt how to cook all of the elven dishes. As the basic requirement was met, it was now just a matter of choice.

It was as they say, life is just suffering a series of consequences as a result of one’s choices.

Ye Ci currently faced this problem. An open quest was actually the hardest, because there was only one chance to make a choice, which would decide the results of the quest. If one chose wrongly, then that would be the end, but if you chose correctly, then there might be a chance to unlock a hidden quest. As a reincarnator, how could Ye Ci not know of the importance of an open quest like this?

After the struggles of her previous life, Ye Ci had experienced over ten thousand open quests, so she was full of confidence and eighty to ninety percent sure her decision was correct.

There was much discussion in the forum regarding the best way to complete an open quest in her previous life. Of course, most people depended on luck, but there were a few players that suggested there was a way to increase the probability of completing an open quest, which was to head to the public library to read books. Naturally, when this method was brought forward, it was mocked.

The library had tens of thousands of books, and it would take someone at least one to two years to finish reading all of them.

Ye Ci also felt this way at first. At that time, she completely relied on luck to complete open quests until she ended up being chased by enemies. As a last resort, she hid in the public library. For the first couple of days, every day dragged on like a year. If she went outside, her enemies would attack, but inside there was nothing but books. After a couple days of this suffering, seeing as there was no chance of leaving, she settled down to read. Once she started reading, she actually stayed for several months. The enemies surrounding the library had all given up on waiting for her to come out, yet she was still immersed in the world of books.

Soon after she left the library. Although she had left, Ye Ci would still continue to go to the public library, as she found reading to be quite an enjoyable activity.

At that time, Fate had been running for four years, and the fourth expansion pack included a famous quest. From the start to the end, there were sixty chain quests, and every one of them was an open quest. If one chose wrongly in any of those quests, they had to start from the beginning. If they had to restart over ten times, then they would have to stop attempting this quest. Once the entire sixty quests were completed, then the player would receive a special reward. Hundreds of millions of players attempted this quest for the reward, but no more than one hundred completed it.

Ye Ci was one of those hundred. Not only that, but she was the only one who did not make an incorrect decision for any of the quests. The reward was naturally abundant, however, Ye Ci relied not on luck, but her knowledge gained from the long hours spent reading in the public library.

It was in this quest that Ye Ci discovered the importance of the books in the public library. It was so overwhelming that it could be called a BUG of the game. The public library held records of all the questions on the continent, from geography to culture and history. It even included records of all the races, development and finalisation of skills, just to speak of a few. Any problems that a player may face was all in the library. It was a shame that no player had discovered such a huge BUG before.

Was it perhaps because players were too absorbed in playing the game that they lacked a passion for books? Or was it because no one could continue after being faced with such a large sea of books? Every spare moment Ye Ci had, she always went to the library to read.

This might be how she became a walking encyclopedia of Fate.

For someone who had so loved reading in her previous life, it was shameful that after reincarnating she had not even stepped foot in the public library. All the things that she knew now was from devouring books, so she decided that, after everything has been settled, she would go to the public library more often.

Faced with her current dilemma, Ye Ci was not at all worried. As soon as Jasmine requested an elven dish, she already knew what she would choose. Of course, the public library did not provide the answers to open quests, but players could deduce the answers from details found in the public library.

For example, dwarves were a race that loved good food and good wine. Dwarves also were not great hunters, but loved to eat meat, the rarer the meat, the more they loved it. The food most hated by the dwarves was dwarven bread, because this was the only food that they could make. After eating the same thing for thousands of years, anyone would be tired of it. The favourite city of the dwarves was the Bulan town in the South continent, not for the beautiful scenery, but for the Bulan beer made from Bulan wheat.

These were only a few of the things mentioned in the public library.

After connecting all the dots together, players could easily deduce the most appropriate choice for open quests.

Based on Ye Ci’s knowledge of the dwarves and Jasmine’s request, she quickly found the most appropriate dish among elven food – Dragon Meat braised in Western Wine.

Of course, the dragon meat in this dish was dinosaur meat, not the dragons that flew in the sky.

There were many ingredients required for this recipe, which included fifty year old red wine from West Ireland, quality dinosaur meat, cumin from Champion City and the secret spice of the Elves. It was not easy to get a hold of these ingredients.

To prepare such a dish, Ye Ci had to fly all the way back to Champion City and traversed across many maps. She even had to contact Fluttering Red Feather from the Southern Continent to quickly send over a couple bottles of Bulan Wine.

After a whole three hours, Ye Ci finally presented her Braised Dragon Meat in Western Wine and five bottles of Bulan beer to Jasmine.

Even with the dish covered, Jasmine could still smell the enticing aroma of the food, “it smells so good, so good!”

“Please eat. This is one of the specialities of the elves.” Ye Ci placed the dish in front of Jasmine and took off the cover. Immediately, a rich fragrance was released. Jasmine breathed in strongly with closed eyes, not wanting to let go of even the smell of the dish. Her face became red, almost as if she was drunk off the scent that was released. Ye Ci was fifty percent certain of her choice now – the other fifty percent would have to wait until Jasmine finished eating.

Dwarves were quite a speedy race. When faced with delicacies, they would not take their time eating it like humans or elves; they would shove it into their mouth as fast as they could. To dwarves, slowly savoring the taste of food or wine was just a waste of time, time that they could be spending on searching for gems. Thus, it did not take long for the large plate of Dragon Meat Braised in Western Wine in front of Jasmine to disappear into her stomach, as well as the five bottles of Bulan beer.

That speed of eating as almost as fast as a tornado.

The speed at which Jasmine ate took Ye Ci by surprise. It took her a whole three hours to make the dish, yet this NPC took less than five minutes to eat it. What a waste of good food!

“That was so so so great!” Jasmine could not stand up due to her leg injury, but waved her hands excitedly. It was obvious that she was very happy. What followed was the line that Ye Ci had long waited for, “I must share such delicious food with my friends! I have a good friend called Dudu. He’s currently at the west side exploring the mine. Could you take a portion to him as well?”

“Of course.” Ye Ci stood up and accepted the quest. It was lucky that she had the foresight to make five portions of the Dragon Meat Braised in Western Wine, otherwise she would have had to waste another three hours.

Ye Ci was very happy. From Jasmine’s satisfied expression, it was clear that she had chosen the best answer this time. Jasmine would have given a reward no matter what elven dish Ye Ci made, but choosing the best answer would result in a bigger reward. Such was the charm of Open Quests.

This time Jasmine did not give Ye Ci any rewards but directly told her to find another NPC. This was abnormal for a NPC that normally gave out bountiful rewards. This abnormality showed that the player had found a critical point for the next quest. If a player did not find this critical point, then they would most likely receive gold or good equipment.

Compared to gold or equipment, Ye Ci was more interested in the continuing quest. She said goodbye to Jasmine and headed towards the mine on the western side of town. In the map Lesser Demon Sanctuary, there was more than one mine, and after the past couple days of exploration, Ye Ci knew the area like the back of her hand. She also knew that there was no NPC in the western mine.

The moment that Jasmine told Ye Ci to find Dudu must have signified the appearance of a new NPC.

Ye Ci quickly arrived at the western mine, and saw a black skinned Black Iron Dwarf inside the abandoned mine who was dripping with sweat. Ye Ci walked towards him and said a friendly greeting, “hello, dear dwarf.”

The Black Iron Dwarf named Dudu turned around to see a tall elf standing next to him, and a look of disgust appeared on his face, “go away you annoying elf. I’m not of those hypocritical White Dwarves. Quickly get out of my sight, otherwise you’ll face my hoe.”

It looked like although Ye Ci had gained Intimacy with Hasmine, it did not extend to Dudu. Thus, Ye Ci took out the Dragon Meat Braised in Western Wine and said, “my friend, don’t be angry. I’m Jasmine’s friend and I’m bringing you lunch today on her behalf.”

“What? You’re Jasmine’s friend? How could Jasmine have an elf friend?” Although Dudu’s words were harsh, it lacked the anger and stubbornness of just a moment ago after smelling the fragrance of the Dragon Meat Braised in Western Wine. He sat down to eat, while also drinking some of the Bulan beer.

The alcohol quickly numbed Dudu’s consciousness, and after Dudu finished eating, his attitude towards Ye Ci had completely changed. Not only did he become brothers with Ye Ci, he also started drunkenly talking, “I’m telling you, elf, I actually don’t want to come to this kind of place to explore at all. Look, I’ve been to all these mines but there aren’t any treasures at all.”

“Treasures?”

“Did Jasmine not tell you? We came to this place in the middle of nowhere to find precious ores. I don’t know where Jasmine heard that there was a precious ore here, but she dragged me with her to this place. We’ve stayed here for a month, yet there’s no precious ores at all. Actually, I’ve barely found anything. Do you think I was lied to?” grumbled Dudu drunkenly.

Ye Ci was silent. Black Iron Dwarves loved digging the most out of the three tribes. They were not like the White Dwarves that liked to mingle with humans, nor were they battle hungry like the Fire Dwarves. They had placed all of their energy on mining. Traces of their mining could be seen all over the continents. Now Dudu said that he and Jasmine had come here to find precious ores. Ye Ci was sure that they were searching for mithril.

Which is to say, this Dudu was most likely to be an important NPC in her search to open the mithril mine.

Once she got to this point, Ye Ci almost could not hold back her happiness. She breathed in deeply to control her emotions, and calmly said “maybe the legend is real.”

“A pack of lies,” cursed Dudu. Ye Ci found this point strange; players that cursed would have their words censored, but she had not heard of a NPC who cursed. This Dudu really was unique. “Do you think we’re the first people to come here searching for precious ores? Before us there were many tribesmen that had come here, but none of them returned. This place is so dangerous with Lesser Demons everywhere, I really don’t want to stay any longer.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Right now, Dudu was full of conflicting emotions regarding searching for the mithril vein. Although Ye Ci was a bit anxious, she did not dare to mollify him, but could only agree with him until they found an answer.

“Oh elf, my good elf, you are the best elf I’ve ever met. You are good friends with Jasmine, so can you tell her to not make things hard for me. I don’t want to stay in the middle of nowhere anymore,” said Dudu pitifully.

This was a messenger quest. Although it was just passing a message, it was the only way to continue. Ye Ci headed back to the town to and became the runner between the two NPCs.

After who knows how many messages, Jasmine finally sighed, “my friend, it looks like Dudu really doesn’t want to find the treasure. Do you think you could find a clue to persuade Dudu? The clan leader is my grandfather, I believe that he definitely would not lie to me. There must be treasure here.”

“No problem. Leave it to me.” Ye Ci almost shouted in joy. She had spent over eight hours on these two dwarves but finally found a clue to finding the mithril mine. This was basically telling here that as long as she found the clue, then she could finally open the mithril mine.

Ye Ci rode Ol’ Four across the Lesser Demon Sanctuary as quickly and silently as a ghost. As the name described, the most common monster here were Lesser Demons.

Lesser Demons were the lowest ranked among the demons, but that did not mean they were easy enemies. They did not have much HP but instead had ranged attacks such as magic flames and magic explosions. This meant that two Lesser Demons could easily kill a lvl55 warrior with high health.

Ye Ci was already lvl60 but she was still extremely careful around these monsters. As both sides were long range attackers, as long as she wasn’t surrounded, getting rid of the Lesser Demons was no problem. Ye Ci wandered around the mithril mine, anticipating being able to find a clue. However, what awaited her were those same black mountain rocks.

Was she wrong?

Seeing as there were no clues next to the mine, the next step was to take a step back and look further away. Ye Ci started searching a distance away from the mithril vein and not long after, she found an important clue.

There was actually a dying Black Iron Dwarf amongst between the rocks. It was obvious from the white in his beard that this dwarf was quite elderly. He laid there, mumbling, “I’m so thirsty, I’m so thirsty...”

Ye Ci immediately took out a cooling Spring Water from her bag and placed it next to the Black Iron Dwarf’s lips. As if he had sensed the moist air, he grabbed it and started guzzling it down. It did not take long for the dwarf to completely finish it.

“Are you feeling better?” asked Ye Ci somewhat impatiently. When she previously explored this area, this NPC did not exist at all. Evidently, he was linked to the quest, but from his current state it looked like he could die at any minute.

“It was actually an elf that saved me, what a joke,” said the dwarf tiredly.

“I am the friend of the Black Iron Dwarf Jasmine. They came here to find a precious ore, but couldn’t find any clues. I was sent on her behalf to help them. You can trust me.”

“Jasmine? The tribe leader’s granddaughter?”

Ye Ci remembered that Jasmine did mention she was the granddaughter of the Black Iron Dwarves’ tribe leader, and nodded, “Yes that’s her.”

“How long has it been that Jasmine is all grown up already? She’s even old enough to find treasure now.” This Black Iron Dwarf slowly let out a deep breath, “you must be a good elf if you have earned Jasmine’s trust. Elf, I do know the secret behind the mine, and even drew a map, but...”