Chapter 7
Feels like the tree will be my next destination.
But it would be quite the journey she felt like, so it was better to fully rest first before starting to go there. She enjoyed the short rest while sitting down by the side of the flower field that surrounded the pedestal she just opened.
After a while, she tried to check how the other earthlings were doing.
[07:43:55]
…
[07:43:50]
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[World Chat - Server #27]
[ID 666779]: Help! Expert, how can you get all of the materials so fast? I can barely get anything here!
[BoatInsurance]: You can forage some of the materials, but I was lucky enough to get tools from my crate.
[ID 774210]: You lucky dog! I walked hours here to circle my island, the only thing I get from my crates are just food and more food!
[CrateAddict]: You're the lucky dog, what do you mean you keep finding food! What I find is always wood and more wood, I almost died of thirst if not for the quest reward!
[RaftQueen]: Guys, don't forget to disassemble the crate you've opened. They could give some extra wood.
[ID 328514]: WHAT! I've been abandoning it. God, how much wood did I pass by then!
[ID 999]: Tell me about it, I just opened one and the wave just carried my crate back to the ocean floor.
[ID 5974]: LMAO, how unlucky can you be!
[ID 10034]: Thank you, Queen! You really represent your name!
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Wow, there's already people with nicknames in chat. Does that mean they have finished building their raft?
[Server 27 Population: 9,999,322/10,000,000]
[Raft Built: 10,754/9,999,322]
It's quite a lot.
It was just 4 hours since they started the mission, but they are quite fast on finishing it. However, this number just fueling up more energy through her body to also start to catch up on them. She surely could finish this quest, but before that she needs to fully explore the island she landed on.
[07:39:53]
She still had enough time to explore, so she picked herself up and started to prepare her journey to the tree. Thankfully the stuff that she ate created no trash, so she could just pat herself a little before going down the hill to go towards the tree.
The journey down the hill was not as tiring as the hike up, it was quite eventful. As she was going down she kept her eyes peeled on her surroundings to make sure nothing important had passed her by. However once she arrived on the flower meadow again, it still took her around 40 minutes and earned her some fatigue and thirst.
[Fatigue: 30/100]
[Hunger: 0/100]
[Thirst: 10/100]
But, she had no time to rest. It was still good enough for her to continue towards the tree. So, she kept on walking, passing through the meadow as the tree was located deep in the center of the island. It was on the opposite side of the cliff hill. As she walked through, she now knew the meadow was filled with many time of native wildflowers with some Moonblossom flowers scattered in between.
In the opening of the forest towards the tree, she met with an old friend, the bird. It was already perching on one of the trees, as if waiting for her arrival. Sure enough, it chirped and extended its wings as if telling her that she made it waiting for so long. So when she got close enough to it, it flew off right away towards the tree. Looks like the bird became her tour guide again.
One bird with one girl followed behind it was the wondrous scene that could be seen in the island. Shen Qinglian kept following the bird but didn't forget to keep on observing the unchanging forest that she passed through. Unfortunately, nothing was unordinary. It was just the same kind of pine tree and cypress with some bushes scattered around.
After quite a while, the surrounding opened up again to a new clearing.
[Skill triggered]
[Silver Willow Glade: The heart of the island, where those who kept waiting now slumber.]
The opening of the forest was located quite secluded, probably around the middle part of the island. There lay a big silver tree, it looked so magnificent and imposing. The surroundings of the tree was filled with the silver-pink color of the flower field, the Moonblossom flower. Near it also lay a medium sized pond that was also surrounded with many leafy scrubs. At night time, this place must be such a wondrous sight.
She walked closer to the clearing area, until she stood right beneath the tree. Upon closer look, the tree was truly enormous. The base of the trunk was the size of a small house, so big that anything could hide in it. She now wondered why the tree was not truly visible from the edge of the island when she just woke up at first.
Among the field of the flower, there lay a small headstone. Nestled in between the silver-pink shade, as if the flower grew to blanket it.
[Skill triggered]
[Weathered Headstone: A weathered headstone of the one who kept waiting]
So there was really someone who's in the island previously.
The headstone was really weathered, who knew how long it had been surviving the weather on this island.
Chaw… Ca-Chaw…
The bird had landed on the base of the headstone, it even kept on pecking on some part of it. After further inspection, the headstone had some indentation. It was similar to the one on the pedestal, but the one on here was in a circular shape. The shape might be related to some items she had found earlier.
From the area and the headstone description, it had mentioned that this was someone who kept on waiting for others who they weren't able to meet at all. It might have been the one revered by the ring. One of the ones who exchanged it by this tree.
Could this ring belong to the person who was buried here?
Taking off the ring from her finger, she looked at the indentation. That must be where the ring was supposed to go. So she put it on there, and she also put the flower she had in her inventory alongside it. As she was just compelled to also give her regards to the person, because who knew how long somebody ever visited the grave again.
In her mind, she was just reminded that this game might not be just a game, the people who live in it can die too, similar to her situation, she could get eliminated and die too. So after putting the flower right under the headstone, she put her head down to pay respects to whoever lies in it to rest.
Suddenly, another hazy and translucent silhouette projected from the headstone just like the memory echo that appeared from the pedestal. However, this time was clearer and more opaque than the previous one. It was as if this was no longer a memory, but the spirit of it.