Chapter 31: Title Quest
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Through the door, one could see that the hut was empty, aside from a small desk and the candle on top it.
It was all very mysterious and otherworldly.
But if there was no one inside, how did that door open?
"Brother, I'm going in for a look—come in only if there's no danger," Chen Jing said.
He had entered even before Chen Yining could refuse, though he soon stepped out. "Come in, there's no danger inside. You can receive quests inside this bounty house, too!"
"You shouldn't have done that. What if it proved dangerous?" Chen Yining was a little angry at that.
Chen Jing flashed a silly grin in response. "You're always protecting me… I just want to do something for you, too."
As he entered the hut, Chen Yining's Summoner's Grimoire heated up, and several lines of text appeared.
[Bounty House: Accept bounty quests and receive rewards. Fighting is forbidden within. (Time remaining—16:24:23)]
The '23' part of the timer was counting down by each second, and Chen Yining became certain that it equated sixty seconds to one minute after twenty-three seconds.
As the Summoner's Grimoire remained warm, it flipped itself as another page appeared, listing three quests in total.
[Quest One—Lakeside Phantom (title quest, one-time): A dark figure could be spotted appearing momentarily in the lake beside this bounty house. Search and destroy.]
[Quest Rewards: Mysterious title]
[Quest Two—Terminator of Fire Fowls (EXP quest): fire fowls are multiplying in numbers for some reason. Kill eight fire fowls.]
[Quest Rewards: 300 EXP]
[Quest Three—Goblin Slayer (item quest): The goblins in the forests are too noisy, please slaughter those noisy midgets. Kill twenty goblins.]
[Quest Rewards: two mysterious items]
"There's still sixteen hours." Chen Yining's eyes lit up since he was certainly surprised by the bounty house.
Would the hut disappear in sixteen hours, as Green Skin had described?
But how could it? Would a blackhole suddenly appear there to devour it, or it would just fade away?
Chen Yining then remembered that when Green Skin said that he had seen these huts, he must have meant that they existed since a long time ago… or at least, before the city transmigrated.
Were there other cities that had transmigrated here before?
But there were no signs of other cities.
As Chen Yining studied the bounty house, he suddenly paused when he noticed an indentation over one of the walls. There was a small stone tablet inside which was around twenty centimeters tall, and had a smooth surface without much floral patterns sculpted into it.
A countdown timer that was fully synchronized to the timer on his Summoner's Grimoire was inscribed upon it—the time inscribed on the stone tablet would tick away with every passing second as well.
Even so, that was supposed to be a stone tablet…
Carefully stroking it, Chen Jing ascertained that it was made out of actual stone, and not an electronic clock disguised as a stone tablet.
That left him utterly astonished. It was simply mystifying that the stone could change its form!
On the other note, it turned out that they could only accept bounty quests in the bounty house, and that they had to return to it after they had completed their quest to receive their rewards.
It appears that there was no time limit for receiving quest rewards, but they would have to return to the bounty house where they accepted the quest.
In other words, if the bounty house disappeared before they could return to it, they would have to find that bounty house again if they wanted their rewards. The worst part of that was that no one knows where that bounty house might go.
Still, there was no limit to number of quests that could be taken, though one-time quest had completion priority.
It meant that while many summoners could accept that particular quest, only the first person to accomplish and submit said quest would receive the rewards. After them, the other summoners could not submit it as the quest was one-time only.
Both Chen Yining and Chen Jing hence decided to accept all three quests.
At present, the easiest task would be goblin slaying, but they often moved in groups and rarely would they wander alone.
That was why Quest Two and Three were more or less equal in difficulty.
Fire fowls were different from goblins, however. Those birds tend to be solitary, and it was only during mating season that one would run into two or more fire fowls being at the same place at the same time.
At least, that was what the blazing chicken told Chen Yining.
As for the first quest, it must be referring to a single monster dwelling in the nearby lake… indeed, one could judge the monsters' ability from the bounty placed on them.
Indeed, the quota of twenty goblins made obvious that fire fowls were more dangerous since the quota on them was eight. On the other hand, the mysterious phantom in the lake was that one and only…
Coupled with the unique environment of the swamp, the monster would definitely be very tough.
As a matter of fact, the serene surface was so vast that they could not get a full picture from where they were standing.
Be that as it may, Chen Yining's arrival seemed to have startled something hiding under the surface of the lake near its shores and it stirred rings of ripples over the lake.
However, Chen Yining decided that he was not going to accomplish quest one right then. He would wait and see after he was done with the first two instead.
Chen Jing, on the other hand, was dissatisfied since it was a time-limited quest and there was no telling when they could get another if they missed this one.
With that in mind, he said, "Brother, should I lure some of the monsters in the forests to see if we could get some goblins and fire fowls? Meanwhile, you should take the time to kill that lake monster."
"It won't be easy," Chen Yining replied, shaking his head. "Furthermore, we've not brought any tools with us—how are we supposed to draw that lake monster to us?"
"Simple," Chen Jing said. "We could make our very own fishing rod."
He smiled confidently when he noticed the doubt in Chen Yining's eyes then.
"Leave that to me."
Chen Jing soon found himself a branch as thick as an adult's wrist and measuring up to four meters. Incidentally, its weight was more or less passable for a fishing rod as well.
"What about the fishing line?" Chen Yining asked.
Chen Jing took out a roll of thick nylon rope from his pocket and Chen Yining stared at it speechlessly.
"Are you trying to choke the fish to death?"
"Why not? These aren't aquarium fishes who got smart after getting scooped out so many times—they would definitely take the bait since they have never had to run."
After that, Chen Jing dug through the moist soil by the lake, and managed to catch a purple-red worm. It was as long and as thick as a chopstick, and wiggling around in a lively manner.
"Just look at that huge, fat worm. I would eat it if I were a fish!"
Chen Jing hooked a safety pin through the worm, tying it to a nylon rope.
With that, a crude fishing rod was complete.
Chen Yining, however, could not help feeling skeptical as to whether that crude fishing rod would actually work.
"I think any fish you catch with that is dumb…"
-- Gift
received