BXBX NOVEL Chapter 953: Trying To Find Clues
As things progressed, the scenario changed and we found ourselves in the middle of the city, right within the Commerce District. There were Majin, Ancient Elves, and Divine Dragons wandering about, and the atmosphere of the city was the same as before. A system message popped up in front of us right as we landed here.
[After realizing that there were still many things they had no answers for, the researchers have only grown warier and concerned about one another. Doubt have started rising within their hearts. And because of how Hermes has been acting lately, some of them have become suspicious of him.]
[Despite that, they try to get along, their friendship having been forged for decades. Trying to relax, they decided to invite your party for breakfast. So they can discuss with all of you what has happened and get a better insight from your perspective.]
[Break Time Intermission between Scenario 2 and Scenario 3 has started! The Third Scenario will begin in 4 hours. For now, you\'re allowed to freely walk through the area outside and inside of the house of the four researchers, freely speak and interact with them, and more.]
[Just like before, a completely different outcome can be generated if you can find enough clues about what has happened and unlock unique Auxiliary Quests to gain Extra Score Points. The higher your Score at the end of the Dungeon\'s last scenario, the higher the rewards will be.]
[Note 1: Time inside of this Dungeon goes by ten times slower than the outside world.]
[Note 2: By fulfilling certain conditions, you can also trigger special Auxiliary Mini Quests within the Scenario\'s Break Time itself! Completing these Mini Quests will grant you higher Score and additionally, might reveal clues about the next Scenario.]
"And we\'re here." I sighed in relief. "Looks like we got four hours now… Does anybody feel tired right now?"
"Not really, it doesn\'t feel like time really happens for some reason, even though we spent three hours before." Angelina said. "I guess it is the effect of time dilation? My mind doesn\'t feel tired."
"Yeah, we\'ve been definitely at least six hours in here, yet it barely has felt like less than an hour in terms of the exhaustion it would give to me. And I get mentally tired pretty quickly usually!" Gandalf noticed.
"Time perception alteration technology is really impressive~ I haven\'t even seen news about this in my country yet, not even Japan has shared this." Said Anikitty. "I bet the debs are play testing these mechanics on this dungeon only! And it happens to be a World Quest that\'ll shape the future of BNLO\'s story so far too."
"It is quite interesting, yeah. Though I doubt they\'re testing it with us, it feels already very perfect." Said Erdrich. "They\'re simply letting us be the first ones to enjoy it. I wonder if we could add this to our normal gameplay later. Can you imagine? We could spend several days inside the game when it was only a few hours outside!"
"But wouldn\'t that make other players get unfair advantages though?" Wondered Angelina.
"I don\'t think it really matters that much." Anikitty shrugged.
It truly felt like they were very old friends based in all the banter that came out of them almost completely naturally. Anyways, we couldn\'t really talk too much about that with them. If we told them that this was most likely real actual magic powers that manipulated time, they simply wouldn\'t believe it.
And the reason they don\'t feel tired is because I\'ve healed both their bodies and souls using my spiritual healing magic. Which has actual effects and can heal mental exhaustion from using your Avatar in the world of Arcadia.
But we better keep that a secret for now, yeah.
"They really talk like this is really a game, huh…" Jenny groaned.
"Keep it low, it\'s better to not talk about this for now." Rita sighed.
"Yeah, I agree. We\'ve defeated two really strong bosses now though; shall we take a small break?" Asked Mark. "At the very least, the food ingredients we use and eat here seem to have some grade of realness, so we could start with that. I am growing a bit hungry myself."
"Me too, let\'s buy some things while looking for clues." I said. "It\'s really useful we got these personal money pouches with their currency. Which is like these Blue Coins thingies."
"Yeah, back then currency doesn\'t seem to be just Gold, but it was these blue coins, concentrations of rich, high quality Mana people used to both recover their own magic power and grow stronger a bit." Said Mark. "Judging by what we\'ve learned so far, that\'s it."
"How do we look for clues or things that could trigger Mini Quests, Elayne?" Lily asked me curiously.
"Ah, don\'t worry about it! Leave this to me." I winked at her. "Spirits, please search for anything weird in the entire city!" I summoned several Spirits out of my own plant body, which I was now able to also transform into a Terrain and Domain.
Countless colorful flowers popped out of my skin, giving birth to hundreds of small, Lesser Spirits. Some were also Lesser Dragon Spirits. They all flew towards every direction, searching for what I had asked them to do.
"The Spirits will find the things for us; it is much easier, and we won\'t need to waste much time either." I said, picking some of the many ingredients here and buying them, storing them inside a white leather bag.
"That feels almost like cheating again…" Elena said. "But I guess that\'s how mom\'s whole gameplay works."
"Gameplay? Players use such weird words sometimes." Ambil groaned, snacking on a steamed sweet potato. "Anyways, Planta, what do we do now? This weird Trial, it said something about looking for clues? So those researchers, are they going to do that in the next scenario?"
"Yes, they were going to look for clues within the designated areas, and also use the same eye-shaped relic to look for the origin of the demon through its demon ashes." I explained.
"I see, then why don\'t you send your spirits to those ruins?" Ambil asked.
"Right, good idea! Let\'s do that, maybe we can skip that whole job if I let my Spirits do it." I nodded.
.
.
.
Amidst the pile of rubble and ruins, three figures appeared, like ghosts, out of nowhere, and only leaving small traces of shadows which slowly disappeared.
"This is the place, right?"
"Yes, this is the place our master said we must quickly clean of evidence."
"They said they almost got caught, and now that they\'re coming here, we must quickly clean everything."
"Hurry, before they come here!"
"Yes."