Within the Nahida Forest, Black Scythe, Raven and Tinkerbella were going deeper into the central area where the monsters were a bit more powerful than those before.
Leveling was easy because of the arrays, and all three players were already lvl 10 before they knew it, reaching the lvl cap of the Beta Release.
This happened specifically because of the [Arrays] that allowed them to have increased stats and farm [Exp] on weaker monsters, letting them level up at a faster rate than usual.
On the short side, they used all of their arrays, and also lost about 3 hours in the middle. Now they had only 3 hours left before they could complete this task of theirs.
"How much farther?" Black Scythe asked, getting goosebumps as he ventured into the deeper parts of the forest.
The forest was especially dark with the evening coming faster, and the light in the forest getting dimmer with time.
"Just a little more. It should be somewhere here. Just look for a giant tree with roots. According to the guards in the city, it should be easy to locate it once we are in the area," Raven spoke as she kept looking around.
"Umm… is that the tree?" Tinkerbella, who saw a special tree at a distance, spoke out.
Raven and Black Scythe looked in the direction where Tinkerbella was pointing, and a smile appeared on their faces as they nodded. Raven even hugged Tinkerbella, speaking,
"Yes! That's the one!"
At a distance there was a glowing tree at the center of a lake. The tree had purplish lighted leaves, with roots running down from the stems. Everything about that tree matched the description of what they knew.
"Alright. Let's proceed carefully," Black Scythe spoke, while Raven nodded.
"Hey. Tinkerbella. How did you end up in the storeroom with the cooking and all? Did you trigger some special quest or something?" Raven, who was peculiarly interested in Tinkerbella, asked as she turned around, looking at Tinkerbella.
As the three walked, Tinkerbella then told them about what happened with Anna. It wasn't a secret, so she didn't have any problem telling them about how she became involved with Anna.
Listening to her story, they were pretty amazed. First, she was lucky enough to get picked by Anna, then she was asked to cook, something she was apt in, which led her to get the [Cooking Skill].
And now she was doing a quest with them in the middle of the forest, on something that could turn out to be a rare quest.
"Are you a cook or something in real life?" Black Scythe, who was listening to the conversation, asked before realizing something and speaking," Ah! If you want to keep your IRL hidden, you can choose not to answer."
Tinkerbella shook her head speaking," it's not big of a deal. I just happen to have a thing for cooking. I like it. Helps me relax."
The three chatted a few more moments, small things about what she can cook, before they reached the tree and started wondering what they should do next.
And as they were wondering…
"Oh, my! Seems like we have some guests here," a woman from the lake appeared, slowly stretching, before wiping the water from her root like hairs.
That woman had a green skin, and a bunch of leaves and branches on different parts of the body. Except for her private parts, which were covered with branches and leaves, she was practically naked.
Her mesmerizing black eyes made all the three players blush a little, before Raven took a step forward as she asked politely,
"Are you Miss Nvida? We are here to deliver a message."
"What a polite child," Nvida smiled as she looked at Raven before nodding," Indeed, I am Nvida. The Dryad of the forest. May I know what news you young ones bear?"
Walking over towards Black Scythe, Nvida then looked at him carefully. Wesker has already explained to her about the players and how their immortality functions.
"Yeah… So, Mr. Wesker asked us to deliver…" As Raven continued, Nvida reached Black Scythe, facing him, her lips about an inch away from his.
He gulped as he barely maintained his composure in front of this forest lady. While Nvida wasn't exactly the most beautiful girl he had seen, she was certainly somewhere among the top.
"Sure," Nvida spoke as she then created some distance between them. She turned to Raven, who was standing there gulping as she looked at them.
"Raven. The letter," Tinkerbella, who was the only one pretty much normal here right now, helped Raven maintain her composure, assisting her to get the letter before presenting in front of Nvida.
Nvida used a bit of her magic to control the branching roots around them, picking up the letter from Raven's hands and bringing it to her.
Opening the letter, Nvida looked at it for a while as her smile turned a little chilly. The surrounding temperature dropped a little as well, making the three players feel chilly.
"Give my regards to Wesker. Tell him he owes me one for this," Nvida spoke as she then clicked her fingers, bringing Raven and Black Scythe out of their stupor. They both looked at the [New Quest Update!] and nodded before moving away from there.
They ran hurriedly as the atmosphere was creeping them out a bit too much. This game was far too realistic than they had expected, enough to make them wonder if they were really in a game.
Running away from there, there was also a hint of a smile on their faces. Especially Black Scythe and Raven… Because this was the type of adventure they actually craved for.
Unlike other RPGs, this one was the best. It made them feel in touch with the adventures they were having… And they were loving every moment there was to it.
On the other hand, the forest lady, Nvida. She looked at the contents of the letter.
[Morpheus is having s*x with Irene.]
-Crunch!
"You sure are enjoying this, aren't you?" Nvida sighed as she crushed the letter and mumbled to herself. Everything she was doing was because Wesker asked her to.
According to Wesker, this was what he was preparing for so long, and if Nvida wanted more information on why he was doing this or answer any of her related questions, she had to do this first.
Nobody understood the point of doing all this.
The players might be immortal, but they were too weak. Nvida didn't even need to try, and they were already charmed by her. Why was Wesker focusing so much on something like this?
In fact, the only thing that made Nvida keep her guard up was the fact that Wesker had asked her to do this. And since Wesker was doing this… it's definitely something that she cannot just overlook.
"Seems like I would need to observe things a bit more. Hmmm… well, let's enjoy this while we are at it too," Nvida then smiled as she hummed and ventured deeper into the forest.
This was only the first of the few things Wesker had asked her to do, and for the rest of the things, she decided to add a bit of her own spices and mixes.
"Don't blame me since you asked me to have fun in this as well," Nvida laughed evilly, thinking about the things she was going to add to this little plan of Wesker.