CHAPTER 72: LIMITED SIDE-QUEST

***

Nighttime.

Western Forest Region.

Ethan kept walking west while staying alert. From time to time, he ran into monsters that were much stronger.

There was one thing that made Ethan realize something—the level of the monsters and the extreme conditions around him.

The farther he went from the central area, the higher the monster levels became. Not only that, but the environment also grew harsher than he ever imagined.

The western region turned into a swampy land, filled with poisonous and dangerous monsters.

Right now, Ethan stopped in front of a dark, black-colored swamp river. The water looked calm, but beneath that calm surface, danger lurked.

Whether it was snakes or giant crocodiles, Ethan didn’t know.

What he did know was that he couldn’t cross it safely without some kind of transportation.

Trying to force his way across would be suicide.

He also noticed how few players there were around. In fact, Ethan hadn’t seen a single guild team along the way, as if no one dared to live in this region.

Still, there were plenty of monsters here, most of them carrying Star Essence.

It made sense why players avoided this place—it was crawling with deadly creatures.

Coming here with low-level abilities was the same as asking to die.

Ethan sighed and stepped back from the swamp, afraid a crocodile might suddenly attack.

The best choice he had was to head back to the central region and start exploring the outer areas in another direction—maybe east—before eventually going north.

He was sure there was nothing in the west except a poisonous swamp forest full of monsters. He even doubted any players besides him were in the farthest west corner of the map.

So, he turned around and started walking through the forest path alone, leaving the swamp far behind for his own safety.

Once again, he didn’t run into any other players, only monsters—though they weren’t much trouble for him.

Ethan earned EXP and gold from killing them, but no Star Essence.

These monsters weren’t the kind that carried Star Essence, so it was normal they didn’t drop any.

He stopped and checked his EXP bar, realizing that at level 60, it took about 20,000 EXP to level up once.

The EXP he’d earned so far wasn’t enough to level up quickly. He needed to keep fighting and collecting EXP from monsters along the way.

He only traveled during the day. Once night fell, Ethan always tried to find a safe place to rest—maybe a cave or an open field, not a dense forest.

As he kept walking in another direction, he saw what looked like a village ahead. It wasn’t Duqu Village—it was something else.

From the look of it, the place was completely abandoned. The buildings were broken, dirty, dusty, and silent.

Ethan felt like he was staring at a ghost town.

He stepped out of the forest and moved closer. When he reached the village gate, he could read the name carved there.

"Olok Village?"

After reading the name, he glanced around, checking his surroundings carefully.

Ethan decided to go in. He walked alone down the main path, passing ruined houses—broken doors and windows, cracked walls, and rooftops full of holes.

"What the hell happened here?" he muttered.

Ahead stood a larger building than the rest, and Ethan guessed it must’ve belonged to the village chief.

Maybe if he checked there, he could find clues about what destroyed Olok Village.

He entered without lowering his hood or removing his white mask. Looking around, he noticed there wasn’t a single body—only mess, dust, and spider webs everywhere.

Judging from the damage and the thick layer of dust, Ethan figured Olok Village had been destroyed long before the event began.

That proved one thing—this world existed before the Thousand Stars Event started.

I can’t shake this weird feeling about this place. Even the NPCs feel too realistic, too flexible for normal coding behavior.

Could they be real humans?

No way. This is a game. There’s no way programming could make real people.

Ethan went upstairs to the second floor. The upper floor was just as damaged, with three doors leading to different rooms.

Curious, he opened the first room—it had only a rotten mattress and broken furniture.

The second room looked like an old storage area, full of ancient junk.

When he tried the third door, it was locked from the inside. That surprised him. Someone must have locked themselves in there.

If the whole village was destroyed, that door should’ve been broken too. Yet this one wasn’t—even the wood wasn’t scratched.

"What the hell is going on?" Ethan muttered.

He tried opening it again, but failed. In the end, he had to break it down.

When he finally got in, the third room looked completely different from the rest—clean, intact, and untouched by time.

The furniture was well-kept, no signs of rot or decay.

"If it was locked from the inside, then someone should still be in here," he said to himself.

He walked in and spotted a small open notebook lying on the bed.

Ethan picked it up and read the writing—it was in English.

[Dad told me to hide when the monster plague came. He said someone would come to save me.]

[Until he comes, I have to stay hidden.]

What the... is this some kind of riddle?

There were no more entries after that. Ethan put the notebook back on the nightstand and turned around—only to hear a strange sound coming from the wardrobe.

Could it be...

He slowly walked toward the wardrobe, his hand reaching for the handle.

With a careful motion, he opened it and saw a girl sitting inside, hugging her knees and burying her face between them.

Noticing someone had opened the closet, the girl lifted her head. She saw a man in a black hooded cloak and a white mask standing before her.

"Are you... my savior?" she asked softly.

Her wide eyes stared at Ethan with hope. She didn’t know if he was the one her father mentioned—but she remembered what her father had said: someone would come to save her.

No matter what, she had to go with him.

Through Ethan’s eyes, she looked like a normal girl—but strangely, her cursor was red, as if she were a monster.

There was also a black crescent-shaped mark on her forehead, and her glowing blue eyes looked mesmerizing.

"Yeah. You can think of me that way," Ethan replied.

The girl smiled and suddenly hugged him tightly. As she did, a red dot appeared in front of Ethan’s vision—it caught his attention.

He tapped it, opening a panel that displayed a new Side-Quest Limited.

It didn’t even ask for confirmation; the mission was automatically assigned to him.

[Side-Quest Limited]

[Main Objectives:]

[1. Protect and raise Luna until she turns 17 years old (10/17)]

[2. Collect 1,000 Moon Fragments from dark-element monsters (0/1000)]

[You must complete both main objectives to finish this Side-Quest Limited.]

[Reward: Luna]

I don’t even know what the reward means... Luna? The girl is the reward? What the hell is going on?

Ethan thought Luna might be like Sera. He crouched down to meet her eyes.

"Can you do something to help me?"

"What do you mean, Savior?" Luna asked.

"Turn into a Soul Servant."

Luna fell silent, her eyes looking up as if thinking hard. A moment later, she closed her eyes and covered her face with both hands.

"I’m sorry... I don’t know what a Soul Servant is."

No... she’s different from Sera. I need to find out who Luna really is.