The Trial Game of Life

Celtic went dizzy at once and slumped to the table. 

Only after Celtic was knocked out that Tang Cuo remembered he forgot to ask Celtic the name of the current Elf King. If the Elf King could indeed bless the [Sword of Judgment], it would be equivalent to an extra layer of protection.

But now there was no way to ask, so the two of them could only grab this time to head out and investigate the situation.

At this time, it was getting dark and the mist in the forest was becoming thicker and thicker. The lights on the hanging bridges gradually lit up, illuminating the surrounding area. Perhaps because of the mist, the lights felt very cold, looking as dim as the moonlight.

The moon finally showed its face from behind the mist, but it looked very unreal. The moon was so big that it seemed to walk out of a dream, carrying with it a beauty that could chill people to the bones.

Looking up and seeing a source of light hanging from the door, Tang Cuo realised that it wasn’t a real lamp, but pure white flowers that was either fully-bloomed or blooming. These flowers looked very similar to the night-blooming cereus, which scattered everywhere along the vines. Their stamens acted as the lamp wicks, while each of their petals was emanating a sort of fluorescence that was like the moonlight.

“There’s a trace of magic here.” The Magic Stone That Is Of No Use was sitting inside Tang Cuo’s pocket right now. As the elemental affinity increased, his perception became stronger. However, the magic on these flowers didn’t seem to be cast by people. They simply contained lots of magic elements by themselves and glowed naturally.

Jin Cheng: “This forest is unusual, even ordinary plants shouldn’t be underestimated. If you have to get into a fight, be careful.”

Ten minutes later, Jin Cheng casually knocked on the door of the tree house next to them and asked with a smile: “Good evening, I’m sorry to suddenly bother you.”

There were human guests staying inside, who didn’t carry the crest of the Greenvines Alliance on their chests. They seemed to be lone adventurers. They recognised Lancelot and behaved rather friendly towards him: “So it’s Lancelot. What’s the matter?”

Jin Cheng shook the pen and paper in his hands: “As you know, I’m a bard. It’s a rare opportunity to be able to come to the Forest of The Elves, so how can I not write a beautiful piece of music? I want to hear your feelings. Everyone has their own unique perceptions, which will be very helpful for my creation.”

These words were truly logical. A creator of arts who treated ordinary adventurers sincerely could always gain their respect.

Jin Cheng smoothly got through the door, and when the two adventurers in the house gathered around Jin Cheng to talk to him, Tang Cuo walked around to the tree house, effortlessly avoided the eyes of the elf guards, pried open the bedroom window and stepped inside.

His goal was very clear: to find out if there were any remnants of previous guests like the feathered brooch Celtic showed them earlier. Since the bedroom wasn’t big, he quickly turned the whole place upside down, while Jin Cheng was in charge of the living room outside. Jin Cheng only had to walk around the room under the guise of thinking to quietly complete this task.

As for how their tasks were assigned, it was entirely based on their roles.

The label Tang Cuo had on himself was very obvious; the identity of the Greenvines Alliance would bring him both convenience and trouble, because the others would definitely have some doubts about his purpose. And if he accidentally knocked on the door of those from the Pinwheel Harbour office, the scene might not be pretty.

On the contrary, the bard had a rather useful identity.

But without Chi Yan, the two of them went back to their original amount of luck, or lack thereof. They knocked on two doors in succession but only found lone adventurers. They couldn’t obtain any information or any items from these men.

What an unfavourable start.

The third attempt was finally a little rewarding, because the one who opened the door changed from a human to a dwarf with a big beard, holding a wine bottle while being completely intoxicated.

The second he moved his gaze down, Jin Cheng quickly switched modes and stared at his wine bottle with bright eyes: “Such fragrant wine, I’ve never smelt such a wonderful scent.” 

The dwarf successfully earned himself a drinking buddy. On such a happy occasion, some information would certainly slip off the tongue. 

“Although elves and dwarves have been neighbours for generations, they reside in the Forest of The Elves, while we reside in the Gorge of The North Wind, but the noble elves look down on us dwarves. If I’m not making a bet with my folks this time, I won’t come to this mission. I don’t want to be looked down by the noble elves, but I didn’t expect — hey, they recruited me and gave me such delicious wine. After I go back, we might become best friends for a lifetime!”

The only dwarf in the team was this Hammo. He took Jin Cheng in and bragged a few more rounds, then fell asleep drunk. Jin Cheng pondered his words carefully, raised his head and looked at Tang Cuo, who just came out of the bedroom.

“Have you found anything?” He asked.

“No.” Tang Cuo shook his head: “But from what he said, there are indeed a lot of shady things about this trip to the Secret Lake. If the Secret Lake is really so important and the issue hasn’t been resolved after so long, why didn’t the elves directly come to a powerful man like Roger Reeds to ask for help? On the contrary, they seem to simply accept whoever comes to this mission.”

“This is indeed a problem.” Jin Cheng said.

The two immediately left the dwarf’s house, then knocked on the elves’ door for the same reason. Elves didn’t talk to other races easily. They were noble and proud, behaved gracefully and politely, but they always treated people with a hint of detachment.

But wasn’t not difficult for Jin Cheng. If necessary, he behaved more like an nobleman than any person on this continent —

He came from a mysterious kingdom isolated from the world and completely surrounded by golden sands, carrying real aristocratic blood of very ancient origins. He had a talent in arts and harboured the goal of becoming the most popular bard in Sicilit, one who sincerely admired the elves and intended to write a poem to praise them.

He possessed an elegant manner, appealing looks, a humourous but not frivolous tongue. All these strengths proved that he was qualified to be a friend of the elves.

“Lancelot, we look forward to your song. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, we elves love music by nature. The God of Nature has given us a unique pair of ears, and it must be for us to listen to the most beautiful sounds in the world.”

A bright light flashed in the eyes of the male elf that was talking, but he kept his movements cautious and only slightly nodded his head.

Jin Cheng replied to him with noble courtesy, calmly and without any reluctance. After saying goodbye to him, Jin Cheng visited a few other elves, but the responses he got were rather similar.

The elves held a pretty good attitude towards him, but they didn’t seem to fully comprehend what happened in the Secret Lake.

After spending a long time visiting different houses, Jin Cheng sat on the rock under the tree and took a rest. Tang Cuo quickly turned up from behind the tree and said: “After you left, the two elves mumbled in their bedroom, complaining that the last guests were very rude and left without saying goodbye.”

Jin Cheng stroked his chin: “It seems that more than one wave of people have arrived in the Forest of The Elves, but the spread of the news is limited to only a certain circle. About the two elves saying that the guests left without saying hello, what do you think?”

Tang Cuo: “They’re likely dead.”

Jin Cheng: “So it’s the elves who hide such information? Then they might’ve hidden also the real situation at the Secret Lake, which is why most of the elves are kept entirely in the dark. And for people like us who come here for the mission reward, the real content of the mission might be —”

Tang Cuo: “To get sent to death.” 

As his voice fell, Jin Cheng suddenly winked at him. Tang Cuo immediately became alarmed, the corner of his eye sweeping past the elf guards in the distance.

Just like what Celtic said, the guards were unnaturally serious and vigilant.

Jin Cheng wanted to ask some questions, but they had roughly figured out the situation, so there was no need to do anything extra. And this was only the outermost layer. The high-ranking elves or the royal family both weren’t here, so the truth mustn’t be here.

“The princess did mention a word — ‘the Elves’ Royal Palace’.”

“In front of us?” 

The two continued speaking casually. When the guards passed by, Jin Cheng even smiled and nodded at them. There was no other way; a nobleman had to always act confident and elegant.

The guards stopped and returned the courtesy, then the chief guard said: “We’ll leave tomorrow morning. Please go back early. In a short while, my people will bring you supper. After drinking the fruit wine of our forest, you’ll sleep very well.”

Just these few words totally shattered Jin Cheng’s intention to head for the Royal Palace to find more information. Delivering fruit wine to them was equivalent to checking whether they remained in the room. Celtic had been knocked out, so one of them must stay in the room.

After thinking, the two decided to return to the tree house for now. Tang Cuo stayed behind to deal with the elves while Jin Cheng went on the journey alone.

A short moment later, an elf indeed came to deliver the fruit wine. Tang Cuo put Celtic into bed and used some equipment to create the illusion that Jin Cheng was also asleep, successfully fooling the elf.

But until the moon reached the peak of the sky, Jin Cheng still hadn’t come back.

He didn’t trigger another side mission, did he? Tang Cuo thought.

It indeed happened exactly as he guessed.

With his great strength, Jin Cheng successfully bypassed all the guards on patrols and the outposts, triumphantly approaching the Royal Palace. But when he got closer, he discovered that a deep trench lay between the palace and the tree houses.

The trench had the shape of a ring, like a moat that surrounded the entire Royal Palace. Standing on the edge and looking at the opposite shore, the distance was actually a few hundred meters. Moreover, both sides of the moat were completely hard rocks, without any grass growing, while filling up the bottom was a dense mist that was constantly drifting upwards, which made the entire royal compound look like a kingdom on the clouds.

The Royal Palace carried a very different architectural style from the surrounding tree houses. The buildings were black, ancient yet grand, emanating a solemn air of majesty.

The only way to get to the Royal Palace was through four hanging bridges, but they were all heavily guarded.

Jin Cheng didn’t believe that his hands were tied, so he walked along the edge for a while, trying to find another way in. But before long, he triggered a side mission.

As soon as the sound of “Ding!” came, he was certain he didn’t hear it wrongly. But nothing happened after the sound. Suspicious, he changed his position and trotted around the trigger point before hearing the sound once more.

“Ding!”

“Congratulations to the player for triggering the side mission — [Desperate McCaw]. Today is the seventh day after McCaw fell. During these seven days, he kneeled on the ground and sincerely prayed to the gods every single day. Will there be anyone who comes to save him?”

Jin Cheng was standing on a protruding rock by the edge of the trench, where he would definitely fall if he took just one wrong step. But what the system meant was that: They wanted him to jump down.

He held up the small harp and felt like reciting a poem —

My dear Cuo Cuo, Yong Ye City really wants you to become a widow.

What was troublesome was that some elf guards instantly rushed over, and there was nothing to obstruct them along this trench.

As the clock ticked, Tang Cuo, who had to stay behind in the tree house, frowned. After waiting for so long and Jin Cheng still hadn’t returned, Tang Cuo was convinced that he must have encountered something.

Tang Cuo didn’t rashly go out to find him. Between Jin Cheng and him, one of them had to perform the mission of paying a visit to the Secret Lake. This was the most important thing.

So Tang Cuo waited and waited, until dawn broke the next day.

Not sleeping all night wasn’t much of a problem for Tang Cuo now, not to mention that he was simply sitting inside the room, which was considered a rest. It was just that Jin Cheng’s current situation remained unknown. Even if Tang Cuo had ample confidence in Jin Cheng, his expression wouldn’t look too good.

Used to Theodore’s cold expression, Celtic wasn’t suspicious at all. Rubbing his head, he mumbled about how he fell asleep last night.

At this time, the day just barely came and the morning light had slightly driven away the thick mist. After walking to the outside of the tree house and taking a deep breath, the energy from nature that prominently lingered in the air made everyone feel immensely refreshed.

Celtic praised from the bottom of his heart: “Forest of The Elves truly lives up to its name.”

At this time, two members of the elf guards came under the tree house and nodded politely at him: “Good day to you, my guests. The elders are already waiting in front, it’s time to leave.”

Celtic said: “Okay, we’ll prepare a little bit and will be there soon.” 

The guards immediately left and to inform the others.

Realising now that Jin Cheng wasn’t here, Celtic quicky asked: “Where’s Lancelot?”

The problem now is whether I should tell Celtic the truth. 

Tang Cuo had actually considered this issue, so he only paused for a second and said casually: “He noticed something strange last night and was sure that other guests had been here. The elves are hiding this from us. I split up with him to ask about the situation, but he hasn’t come back yet.”

“Then what should we do?” Celtic frowned immediately, deep worries cast in his eyes: “This is bad, we have to find him as soon as possible. The Forest of The Elves is too big, yet we’re unfamiliar with this place. It’s too dangerous for Lancelot to be alone.”

Tang Cuo shook his head: “No, the team will set off right away, it’s too late now. Celtic, remember well, don’t reveal the truth to the elves, you only have to tell them — we only found out that Lancelot was missing this morning.”

Celtic seemed to figure something: “You mean we’ll put the blame on the elves?”

Tang Cuo: “Yes, we absolutely can’t let them find out what we’ve discovered.”