Chapter 285: The Fey Grotto
The Fey Grotto, in essence, sustains the existence of the Fairy Kingdom. While Fey are beings of the Path, they do not wish to live in the Dream Realm. Instead, they prefer to reside in places adjacent to other intelligent lifeforms.
As Extraordinary beings describe Fey – “our benevolent neighbors.” Fey always like to be neighbors with other creatures. But they are also very willful… Fey enjoy bothering others, yet detest being bothered themselves. It’s like a misbehaving pet cat; it can seek you out, but you cannot seek it out. Therefore, Fey usually live in the Fey Kingdom.
This is a liminal space between reality and the Dream Realm, a phantom kingdom shaped by the Fey’s incredible power of thought manifestation. One of its passages connects to the dreamlike domain of The Path of Beauty, and then there are six passages – Light, Dark, Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire – connecting to six areas of the Material Realm, maintaining the elemental balance of the Fey Kingdom. These six passages can be changed, but they are generally established in areas with a strong concentration of their corresponding elemental power.
Eivass knows the locations of the Wind, Water, Light, and Dark Fey Grottos – three of which have already become dungeons. Fey-type dungeons are quite lighthearted in a sense. Because Fey do not fear death, their dungeon mechanics are like playing a game… In fact, it truly is just for fun. For instance, standing on different squares, each with a different color, and then stopping on a designated square when a spinner stops, otherwise, a tornado would send you flying into the sky and then falling to your near death. Or, surfing in a facility similar to a water flume ride, moving left and right to avoid dangerous obstacles, or jumping upwards layer by layer in boiling water where the water level gradually rises – a single misstep and you’d be scalded to near death.
These are very classic Fey-type dungeons, from which one can see the personality of the Fey. The background music is also cheerful, carrying a festive atmosphere. Sometimes, when Eivass gets bored while running dungeons, he’ll grab a few free girls from his friend list and team up to play these dungeons with voice chat. They’ll laugh joyfully, scream in surprise, and have quite a good time. But up to version 0, no one had discovered the locations of the Earth and Fire Fey Grottos. Now, this mystery has finally been half-revealed.
Next to the Fey Grotto of the corresponding element, using a spell of the corresponding element has a chance to “activate the mechanism” to open the door. There are many similar restrictions; the mechanisms for the four elemental systems can all be opened by mages.
These monsters and Und living in the swamp should have discovered that a continuous stream of power was gushing out from here… so they instinctively gathered here, but in a sense, they became the Fey’s pets, or rather, guard dogs. The power of The Path of Beauty imbued in them is why Eivass can gain extra experience by defeating them. And it was precisely because the Mud Skeleton Turtle was stuck here that Sherlock, the first time he used a spell, mistook the sluggishness he felt for interference from the Mud Skeleton Turtle.
Now, it appears that although this swamp is not directly related to the chaotic time and large number of Und in Eagle Cape Village, it is highly likely the reason Eagle Cape Village cannot be seen from the outside! Although there are no Fey here, this can still be considered Fey Land. The barrier here was indeed set up by the Fey… although it was to protect the Fey Grotto. It’s just unknown whether the villagers of Eagle Cape Village moved here first, and then the Fey chose this place… or if the Fey chose this place first, and then a group of people discovered the anomaly here and moved in.
If Eivass had complete equipment, he would actually be quite willing to jump in and adventure. If they could pass the Fey’s trials, they could gain the Fey’s friendship – Fey are very generous to their friends, not only can they call for backup in times of danger, but their gifts are always good things. For example, heirloom Fey paintings, or Fey musical scores. There are also some rare Extraordinary materials, or equipment that looks very good. Isabel’s favorite, “Lulu’s Magic Flute,” is an opera written by a Fey named Lulu. The coolest thing is, if some Fey gets along well with you, but has nothing to give, they will generously give themselves as a gift – turning themselves into a pet drop in a game, or a summon that can act as a trans-dimensional messenger in reality. They gift generously. Truly, they do.
When Isabel ascended to the Fifth Tier, one of her good advancement professions was related to Fey, and Eivass should take her here before that. But if one enters the Fey Grotto without the Fey’s permission and without gaining their friendship, they are invaders… It is too difficult to gain the Fey’s recognition, and it is very time-consuming. Eivass can only mark this place for now – this Fey Grotto should be the secret of this swamp. But it also implies that the anomaly here is not directly related to the village’s twilight power.
After hearing Eivass’s explanation of the Fey Grotto, Sherlock felt his knowledge had increased. Where did this damned fox hear such secrets? Sherlock felt he read a lot of books. But compared to Eivass, he was still far behind.
“At least we’ve ruled out one wrong answer,” Sherlock said softly. “If we’ve confirmed the swamp isn’t related to the anomaly in the village… we should part ways now, shouldn’t we?” He wiggled his fingers and, following Eivass’s command, cast an Earth Attribute spell again. This nearly exhausted his Earth Attribute Mana, and at the same time, it caused the opening to spew out a large amount of mud, filling the swamp once more.
“Let’s go.”
Eivass and Sherlock exchanged glances and retreated the way they came. The white mist gradually rose again, but the Und had not reappeared. Eivass needed to conserve some Mana… After resolving matters here, he would come back to grind for a good amount of experience! But even with the exploration of these few days, they had already discovered a World Boss in Eagle Cape Village that could potentially reach level 60 in the future, and an entrance to the Fairy Kingdom. In addition to that, there was the Book of Law that Eivass learned about from Madam Mina’s prophecy, and his grandfather’s inheritance.
“I have to say, your home has quite a lot of good things,” Eivass marveled at Haina. “It’s just a bit dangerous – much more dangerous than Glass Island.” Haina was also somewhat questioning reality. “Is this really my childhood home…?” She felt that this was completely different from her childhood experiences. It was just a countryside with nice scenery… how did returning home as an adult turn everything into such danger, such thrilling experiences? Even as they parted ways, Haina still couldn’t quite understand.
Their exploration didn’t seem to take much time. This time, there was no “fast-forwarding”; it was approximately the actual time they spent – which was a little over an hour. Eivass glanced at his pocket watch and found it was not yet nine in the Morning.
“Shall we go wash up by the stream?” he asked Lily. They now had a strong smell of swamp gas on them. Although their noses had almost adapted, if they went directly to the villagers, they would likely be discovered immediately. Lily shook her head. “Let’s just clean up directly… I’m afraid time might suddenly slip away again.”
“Indeed.” Eivass nodded. Then, Eivass slightly purified the strong swamp gas odor on himself using Fire Worship Magic and helped Lily clean her body with a ritual. After making their bodies clean again, they followed Haina’s previous directions and found the Elder’s house in the village. Although these villagers had no names, they had “positions” and “identities.” According to Haina, there were three Elders in Eagle Cape Village. One was a wealthy country gentleman – though not very wealthy or gentlemanly to Eivass; one was the Priest here. And the remaining one was Eivass’s deceased grandfather.
Getting ready to go home! I seem to be blocked!
