Watching the expressions of the young girls in his memory, some worried, some laughing, Lin Da felt a warm current flow through his heart.
This was the Snow Goose Adventure Team he was willing to stay with.
The gentle and considerate Aiko, the quirky Klrona who also called him brother.
Biting her lip as if she was preparing to apologize for rashly entering the heartland of the Magical Creatures, it was Lia.
His own sister, Lin Xi, was still there as well.
The members of the adventure team really felt like family.
Back then, Lin Da deeply believed that establishing the Snow Goose Adventure Team was the right choice.
If only the team hadn't become famous, it would have been fine for it to remain ordinary.
This thought flashed through Lin Da's mind.
Suddenly, 'Lia' across the round table stood up.
With pursed lips, head slightly bowed, and fists clenched tight, it seemed she was ready to say something.
Everyone looked over in surprise.
Lin Da's expression hardened; it was here that Lia entrusted herself to him.
"Today's failure was my fault. I shouldn't have risked going into the Giant Water Serpent's heartland. Because everyone tried to save me, it nearly led to our team's annihilation!"
Aiko hugged the trembling Lia and whispered softly, "Captain, don't blame yourself, we are teammates, and we still need you to lead us to overcome higher levels."
"But, but!"
"Sister Lia, neither brother nor I will blame you, okay?"
"No, I know you're all just trying to comfort me!"
Lia wiped her swollen eyes and looked at the silent Lin Da sitting across the round table. She bit her lip and said, "If we had just listened to Lin Da and retreated, it wouldn't have..."
"Take this as a lesson. From now on, be more cautious. Only venture into the World Tree when certain of victory."
Hearing Lin Da say this, the self-reproach on Lia's face visibly lessened.
But she didn't sit down and suddenly bowed deeply.
Her voice was loud as she earnestly requested, "Lin Da, please help the Snow Goose Adventure Team take everyone, without a single person left behind, through the World Tree Secret Realm!"
Lin Da remembered clearly, from that day onward, the level of detail in his strategy planning had multiplied many times, and so had the time spent.
He envisioned all sorts of scenarios in defeating Magical Creatures, and as long as the adventurers met the level requirements and adhered strictly to the strategy, they could pass without injury.
"This kettle is broken, but it still works—really bails us out."
An incongruous voice suddenly emerged within the memory illusion.
The scenes around him shattered like glass, and Lin Da dumbly returned to the musty, cold rental space.
The round table was much shabbier than in his memories, and the straightforward, red-haired girl who had sat across from him had disappeared.
Lin Da looked at the person who had pulled him out of his memories, Kafni, who used an old kettle to boil water and placed it with a clatter on the table, "Want some?"
"Hmm."
Lin Da opened the cup he carried along with the Magic Potion and filled it with hot water.
He saw that Kafni was using a pink mug with a Fire Dragon pattern.
"This cup is still here, surprisingly not thrown out by the landlady."
Lin Da was a bit surprised; this was the cup Lia used to use when they lived here.
He walked over to the small washroom to check, in front of a mirror held together with tape was a wooden basket for washing items, and several differently colored cups were covered with a thick layer of dust.
Lin Da then turned towards the wall to the right of the mirror, where the crooked lettering was indeed still there.
Time had passed too long, the letters were yellowed, some too blurry to make out, looking like random scribbles.
'Become the number one adventure team in White Dove City.'
'Cure the legs and open a lingerie store in Imperial Capital.'
"Buy all the toys, order rabbit armor!"
"Stay with brother forever!"
And at the bottom, squeezed into the corner with gigantic fonts, was a line written in minuscule letters like a mosquito's buzz: "Hope to safely reach the top of the World Tree."
Seeing these words, Lin Da rubbed his brow and sighed.
Of the original five members who established the Snow Goose Adventure Team, two had already left, which inevitably brought a sense of change and loss.
Lia's dream hadn't changed at all, but she herself had changed too much.
Entering the living room, Lin Da sat on a couch with cotton showing through, staring blankly at the dark ceiling.
"What about dinner?" Kafni asked, clutching her belly and looking distressed.
"Let's just go to bed early and eat tomorrow," Lin Da said.
"Huh?" Kafni's face was full of astonishment.
Lin Da, however, had no appetite. Kafni had taken a silver coin from him and when she asked if he was going to eat while leaving, he declined.
His mind was in disarray; after recalling those memories, he felt a strange sense of anticipation about meeting Lia tomorrow.
How could the 'Bursting Flames' Lia from the game have turned into what she is now?
When Lin Da agreed to form the team, it wasn't solely because of a common purpose.
It was also because, at first glance at that red-haired girl, he recognized her.
She was a popular NPC from the Mystic Continent game, 'Bursting Flames' Lia!
In the version 1.1 Blood Moon event, Lia was level 40 and the leader of the Sunrise Level Adventure Group.
Mature and steady, with a strong sense of responsibility, her greatsword wrapped in flames had captured the hearts of many players.
But the Lia Lin Da met was completely different in character from the 'Bursting Flames' Lia of the game, despite their identical looks.
The latter was mature and steady, beloved by people.
The other was willful and petulant, only good at shifting the blame.
"Is it that reality differs from the game, or has my arrival caused a 'butterfly effect,' altering the story?"
Upon careful consideration, Lin Da realized that ever since he joined the Snow Goose Adventure Team, he had been assigned to cook, strategize for the Mystic Realm, prepare supplies, calculate the value of the spoils, distribute rewards—everything was done by him...
These tasks, which should have been mostly the responsibility of the team leader Lia, were taken on by Lin Da to let Lia focus on her training and leveling up, after accepting her request.
"Could it be...that I caused the mature and steady Lia from the game to disappear?"
Lin Da was stunned at his own thoughts.
Kafni had mentioned before that he was spoiling the members of the Snow Goose Adventure Team too much, and he hadn't taken it seriously. But now, he thought there might be some truth to it.
Lin Da could not help but sigh.
To think of remedying the situation now was pointless.
He had already become a hero, accompanied by a useless Goddess, and was destined to establish his own team.
So even if Lia truly reverted to her original personality, he couldn't possibly rejoin the Snow Goose Adventure Team.
With the moonlight shining through the window, Lin Da took out paper and ink and began drafting his resignation from the team at the table.
The room echoed with the sound of the quill scratching against the paper.
After a moment.
Lin Da set down his pen, tucking the completed document into his chest.
When he finished writing the resignation, the uncomfortable feeling that had faintly troubled him vanished, leaving him completely calm.
He took one last look back and truly had no regrets.
Although he hadn't yet registered his official departure with the Adventurer's Guild, Lin Da felt in his heart that he was already a 'free man,' unaffiliated with any team.
At a little past eight in the evening, the Sparrow District on the city's edge had already fallen into silence, while the affluent White Dove District was still brightly lit.
The bustling shopping streets glowed with various magic lantern signs, and there were many stylishly dressed men and women. Occasionally, one could also see the unusual sight of beastmen and elf couples walking hand in hand.
Since a divine decree from the World Tree Goddess three hundred years earlier, the wars across the continent had ended, ushering in an era of peaceful coexistence among multiple races.
As indicated by the divine decree, the 'Demon King Satan,' sealed by the previous generation of heroes, was about to return from the Bottom of the Demon Realm. To select a new hero, the World Tree Goddess had placed the strongest weapon, "Hero's Sword", at the top level of the World Tree Secret Realm.
This further elevated the status of adventurers, and all intelligent beings living on the Mystic Continent aimed to reach the top of the World Tree and pull out the Hero's Sword.
At that moment, in a luxurious mansion in the Inner City District.
In a lavishly decorated living room, a young girl wearing a loose, orange long dress had fallen asleep on the couch.
Her red hair, as smooth as satin, spread out like a waterfall touching the floor.
Lia, having just come out of the bath, was relaxed and had planned to rest on the couch for a while but had unexpectedly drifted into deep sleep.
"—Without a doubt, the continent flourished because of the World Tree!"
Lia dreamt of ten years ago, hiding outside the windows of the Noble Academy, eavesdropping on a teacher's lecture.
"But what I need to clarify is, the World Tree we see is not its main trunk."
Is it not? Lia thought to herself.
She leaned in closer.
"The World Tree's roots spread across the continent. Those roots that break through the ground become smaller World Trees, which are what we see. Each World Tree has a different maximum number of levels, some only 5, some 20, but only the sacred World Tree in the center of the continent, in the Sanctuary, reaches the top level!"
"With each World Tree as a nucleus, the original adventurers gathered, multiplied, established villages, and as the population grew, these places gradually turned into towns and cities."
"That is the origin of our Red Heart City!"
"Do not dishonor the legacy of your city's founders. Strive to become adventurers, aiming to reach the top level of the World Tree!"
"Oh oh oh oh oh!"
The exhilarating shouts of children burst through the window.
The descendants of the founders are so great?
Beneath the window, Lia, dressed in grubby commoner's clothes, clutched her straight wooden stick tightly, her eyes filled with resentment for her own circumstances.
She thought, one day she would become a top-level adventurer, a person respected by all, not someone hiding under someone else's classroom to learn.
Time seemed to accelerate by tens of thousands of times, and after a dizzying spin, Lia realized she had left Red Heart City and arrived in a dirty, rundown rental in White Dove City.
A pitted redwood round table, and a persistent musty smell that never dissipated.
A bunch of people squeezed together, the air so thin it seemed one had to struggle with each breath.
Those poor memories prickled at Lia's nerves every time she recalled them.
"Please take everyone with you, without exception, and conquer the top level of the World Tree!"
The sudden sound of a familiar voice made Lia's eyelids twitch; she saw, not far in front of her, among five people gathered around the round table, a red-haired girl, noticeably younger than herself, suddenly stood up and bent over to plead with the Healer in their team.
Lia's face darkened instantly; why did it have to be that day?
She woke up from the nightmare.
Groggily sitting up from the couch, she touched her forehead, which was covered in sweat.
'Take everyone with you, without exception, and conquer the top level of the World Tree?'
How naive she had been back then, and Lin Da had actually agreed with a serious face.
Lia found it a bit funny, anyone in the adventure team knew that it was impossible not to have personnel changes when summiting the World Tree.
With a total of fifty layers in the Mystic Realm, each layer had several random maps, populated by various types of Guardians.
Relying on just a few fixed team members wasn't feasible to handle all the Guardians.
Personnel changes were too normal, the main members of the Snow Goose Adventure Team had not changed for three years, which in the eyes of other adventurers was "abnormal".
As the leader of the Snow Goose Adventure Team, Lia should have kicked out Lin Da, a 15th-level member, a long time ago, but out of old loyalty, she had kept him, paying him the salary of a main team member.
After returning from the World Tree, Lia thought about it all afternoon but still couldn't understand the reason Lin Da had quit the team.
She sulkily took out a bottle of juice from the refrigerator and began to sip from it with both hands held around it.
Lia recalled that before she had asked Lin Da to lead everyone to the top of the World Tree while in the rental house, Lin Da had been amazing, capable of guiding the team through higher levels with lower ranks.
But since she had asked him, although the team's level had already surpassed the recommended strategy level of the Adventurer's Guild, he still refused to progress, insisting that everyone master the level to handle all bosses without getting injured.
If Lin Da had used his previous capabilities, they could have easily moved on, right?
The more Lia thought about it, the angrier she got.
"Is dinner not ready yet?"
Having finished her juice, she banged the table in frustration.
When no response came after waiting for a long while, it was the first time this had ever happened.
Lia was stunned for a moment, then looked around and realized that the living room was empty, just her alone.
Aiko and Klrona were probably in their rooms, Klyne and Oru, the couple, had bought a house in installments and didn't live here.
"Where's the food, the food!"
Lia bit her lip in frustration.
Normally at this time, Lin Da would have already prepared dinner, and all they had to do was eat, but Lin Da had suddenly left the team, and she hadn't had the time to hire a new cook.
With her stomach growling non-stop, Lia, full of resentment, went to the fridge to look for something to eat.
From the storage level equipped with a freezing array below, she dug out a few bags of dumplings.
"We'll just eat this tonight."
Lia saw the hand-written label on the packaging, which was pork and chive filling, and felt a bit calmed.
This strange delicacy, wrapped in dough, she often used as a midnight snack.
It's just that before, she only had to yell and someone would boil the dumplings; now, she had to cook them herself.
Lia found it quite fresh and entered the kitchen, full of zest, with the dumplings in hand.
It was her first time doing this, giving her the thrill of an adventurer entering a new Mystic Realm.
After some fiddling, she finally managed to light the stove; a pale blue flame rose up, next was to pour water into the pot... Although she had never seen Lin Da do it, she could guess how it was done.
After pouring in the water, Lia poured a big bag of dumplings into it with a splash.
This much was enough for three people to eat.
Lia tied on an apron, crossed her arms over her chest, and smugly imagined the scene where Aiko and Klrona would be in disbelief, praising her.
Gurgle, gurgle, not long after, the cold water heated up to boiling and started to bubble.
Lia stared with wide eyes in confusion. What happened? The dumplings had all burst open, and the filling was spilling everywhere!
"Aiko, Aiko, come here, there's a problem!"
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