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“Kill fifty evil spiders.” That cold, aloof elf didn’t offer any hints, so Dan Xingyu didn’t even know what these evil spiders looked like.

He wanted to ask, but whether the elf was real or just a phantom, he only spoke those two lines and never said another word.

Dan Xingyu had no choice but to head north.

Fortunately, the evil spider didn’t give him any trouble. It was pitch black all over, with black mist billowing from its body; wherever its long legs passed, fallen leaves and the ground were corroded. It certainly looked evil at first glance.

This creature looked highly toxic, so Dan Xingyu focused his mind and switched into monster-hunting mode.

The other 48 people had experiences similar to Dan Xingyu’s: they scattered to different, out-of-the-way spots and received some strange quest from an elf.

However, the others weren’t as quick-witted as Dan Xingyu; simply “seeing an elf” was enough to get them excited. Since it was a real elf, the reward they’d receive after completing the quest would surely be elf-related, right? This trip was definitely worth it!

Qiyu was still asleep.

That enormous cocoon, which completely enveloped him, was continuously channeling energy into his body. His expression was more serene than ever before.

More than ten hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

After slaying the massive evil spider before him, Dan Xingyu finally let out a long sigh, plopping down on the ground without a care for his appearance and gasping for breath. He pulled a stamina potion from his backpack, downed it in one gulp, and waited for his strength to gradually return.

The corpse of that enormous evil spider had vanished, leaving behind only a pitch-black object that seemed to emit black mist from its eyes. Without the Survival Panel’s encyclopedia, he had no idea what it was.

There were very few NPCs who assigned quests, and he had originally wondered: without any proof, how would the other party know that he had really killed fifty evil spiders?

Now he understood—this item that had dropped must be the “quest item.” He sat for about a quarter of an hour, then finished resting.

He took an ordinary-quality longsword from his backpack, gave it a light flick, and the black object, emitting a dark mist, flew into the wooden chest beside him.

Dan Xingyu closed the lid of the crate and stowed it back in his backpack. He certainly wouldn’t touch something like this—an object of unknown origin that looked clearly abnormal at first glance.

With exactly fifty of them now in the wooden crate, he hurried back without delay and found the elf NPC. The elf NPC opened the crate, looked at its contents, and his expression softened slightly:

“Congratulations on completing the quest.”

A green light shot from the elf toward Dan Xingyu. He caught it and discovered it was a green leaf shimmering with a faint glow.

“This is your proof of completing the commission. Once all of you have finished the quest, you can use this item to draw a random reward from the warehouse.”

This was the longest sentence the elf NPC had spoken so far. So it was a lottery system after all.

Dan Xingyu didn’t have much to say; he just missed his lucky friend even more.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Excuse me, Mr. Elf, I still have some time left. Perhaps you could assign me another quest.” The elf ignored him again.

Dan Xingyu thought for a moment, then asked, “I came in here with a friend. Could you tell me—did everyone who entered end up in the same forest? Will I run into him?”

This time, the elf answered him: “Everyone is randomly teleported to a different area. Your quests aren’t linked, and you won’t run into each other.”

Dan Xingyu asked a few more questions, but the elf seemed to have lost patience and simply vanished right in front of him. 

Dan Xingyu: “……”

Alright, then.

These so-called “Immortals” really do seem aloof.

He didn’t know how the others were progressing with their missions, but clearly, doing just about anything would be better than sitting here waiting. He decided to treat this forest as an exploration zone and, heading in one direction, began to explore.

He estimated the time himself; about nine hours later, the green tree leaf he’d kept close to his body in his cloak pouch suddenly flew out on its own.

It hovered in midair, shimmering with light, and then moved off in a certain direction. This was clearly a sign to follow, so Dan Xingyu immediately set off after it.

After walking for about half an hour, the scene before Dan Xingyu suddenly opened up.

The gloomy forest had vanished, and golden sunlight shone unreservedly upon the land.

He couldn’t help but look back. Behind him was a meadow covered in blooming flowers—where was the dark forest? Soon, one figure after another appeared; Dan Xingyu recognized them as the fifty people who had entered with him earlier. He waited eagerly for Qiyu to show up.

But one after another, until the 41st person appeared, no one else followed.

A male elf with long golden hair materialized before the group. He smiled slightly and said:

“Congratulations on completing this mission.”

He raised his hand and pointed to the side with his slender fingers: “Now, please proceed to the Elven Treasury and select one artifact.” 

“Remember, you may choose only one item, and once selected, your choice cannot be changed.”

As he spoke, a sapling sprouted from the ground right where his fingertip pointed.

The sapling grew rapidly in the breeze, soon transforming into a giant tree that seemed capable of blocking out the sky. A faint green glow rippled from the base of the trunk—clearly some sort of barrier or portal.

Unmoved by the others’ expressions of surprise and delight, Dan Xingyu’s face beneath his hood looked somewhat grim.

He asked, “There were 50 of us who came in together, but now there are only 42 of us here. Where did the others go?” Some people couldn’t wait to enter the giant tree, while others weren’t in such a hurry.

Hearing his question, the man scoffed, “The ones who didn’t come back were probably eaten by monsters. This is the Black Resource Zone—it’s not a game of house. One wrong move and you’re dead.”

“Impossible,” Dan Xingyu flatly denied.

Setting aside all emotional considerations and looking at it purely rationally, he didn’t believe anything had happened to Qiyu.

First of all, whether it was the “Forest of Stars” territory or his status as a local mage, his abilities clearly showed a deep connection to the elves.

His strength was at least on par with his own—he even possessed a semi-divine artifact. Who knows how many valuable items the survival game would throw his way? It was highly unlikely he’d fail to complete a commission that looked this straightforward.

Even if, by some stretch of the imagination, his luck were to run out this time and he were assigned a “hell mode” quest, just think back to the last time in the Royal City of Ophelia: when a group of Level 8 powerhouses capable of levitating in mid-air tried to bully him, his elven mentor stepped in immediately to intimidate them.

That elven noble cares so deeply for Qiyu; there’s no way he’d stand by and watch him come to harm.

Even taking another ten thousand steps back—assuming the extremely remote possibility that His Elven Lordship had overlooked something and failed to notice Qiyu was in danger—he still had his teleportation scrolls.

At worst, he’d simply forgo the danger reward, skip the resource zone, and teleport straight home.

So, all things considered, even in the worst-case scenario, the young mage would simply be teleported back to his domain and wouldn’t receive the reward from the Elven Treasury. He was certain: there was absolutely no way anything could happen to Qiyu.

The blond elf glanced at him and said meaningfully, “Everyone will face their own destiny, whether it be new life or death.”

“Human warrior, please come forward to claim your quest reward.”

Damn it, another riddle-spinner!

Dan Xingyu knew there was nothing he could do now; he could only enter the treasury with the “Green Leaf Key.” For now, all he could do was hope the 24 hours would end quickly so he could ask Qiyu exactly what had happened.

With more pressing matters on his mind, Dan Xingyu seemed somewhat distracted during the treasure-selection phase—a moment that filled everyone else with wild excitement.

Once inside the giant tree, the interior was actually quite simple.

A garden, bursting with countless blooming flowers.

An ethereal voice informed them that each person could pick one flower.

They had only one chance; once they’d picked their flowers, the selection would end. Once they left this place, the flowers would naturally transform into the corresponding treasures.

Furthermore, the treasure only recognizes the person who picks the flower. If someone uses any means to deceive others or snatch the “flower” from someone else’s hands, that flower will forever remain just a flower.

This is to prevent people from killing others to seize the treasure.

When Dan Xingyu saw this vast, endless sea of flowers, his first thought was: It’s a shame Qiyu isn’t here. He would definitely love this.

With so many flowers—most of which he’d never even heard of—and his mind preoccupied with worry for Qiyu, Dan Xingyu didn’t take much time to choose carefully.

His gaze swept across the field, and whenever he spotted a flower that caught his eye, he simply plucked it. In that instant—

Qiyu, who had been sleeping beneath the tree, opened his eyes inside the enormous green cocoon of light.

The moment he opened his eyes, they turned an incredibly clear green—a deep, lush emerald that, upon closer inspection, matched the hue of the tree he was nestled against almost exactly.

However, this emerald-green gaze appeared only for a moment before fading away swiftly.

And in the instant he opened his eyes, the green light cocoon enveloping him melted away like ice and snow. It was as if a new beginning had begun—the great green tree, the meadow where he lay, the flowers…

All these scenes flashed by at lightning speed, and he sat dazed on the forest floor.

Washed over by a massive flood of information, Qiyu’s memories gradually returned.

He entered the Black Resource Zone with Dan Xingyu, where they encountered the emergence of an Elven treasure and descended into the ancient well… Qiyu remembered something and looked down; on the index finger of his right hand was an exquisite ring.

The jade ring was engraved with the veins of a tree leaf.

It was a storage ring, and at that moment, it was filled to the brim with items. Qiyu wore a puzzled expression.

His ears suddenly twitched as he heard a sound coming from afar. He probed the area with his spiritual energy, and a hint of delight flashed in his eyes—it was Dan Xingyu. Wait a minute—no, that’s not right!

Qiyu felt a jolt of astonishment. Are you telling me that my ears detected the distant sound before my spiritual sense did? Actually, it wasn’t just his ears.

Without relying on his spiritual energy, his eyes could easily make out the patterns on tree leaves a hundred meters away.

His body was as light as a breeze; Qiyu even felt that with just a slight burst of energy, he could easily leap to the top of a ten-meter-tall tree.

When Dan Xingyu walked over, what he saw was Qiyu sitting in a pile of fallen leaves, deep in thought. He was both surprised and delighted: “Qiyu, what are you doing here?”

Hurrying over, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you come to the Spirit Treasury?”

Qiyu looked up, his expression grave as he met Dan Xingyu’s gaze: “Dan Xingyu, something major has happened.” His expression was so serious that Dan Xingyu grew tense as well.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

Qiyu suddenly didn’t know how to explain.

Was he supposed to tell him that the elves of this world seemed to have developed some sort of cognitive distortion and were mistaking him for an elf?

Not only did they fill his head with ancestral memories, but they also stuffed him with a mountain’s worth of elven infants’ treasures, ones meant to supplement his nutrition?