Chapter 11：Starfall Lake

The sky, filled with shining stars, brought a sense of unexpected serenity. The bright moon that hung in the night sky became more and more round.

The Starfall Forest was changing at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

The light blue fluorescent light, which was supposed to be like a firefly, gradually became brighter. When the fluorescent lights were joined together, it looked like a band of blue lights. The soft young grass in the Starfall Forest had also grown at an incomprehensible speed. Not only had the grass hardened, but it had also begun to grow taller. As for the trees inside the forest, it was unknown whether they were an illusion or real. The big trees, which required several people to gather around to surround them, had grown taller overnight.

The impact of the Magic Tide had slowly changed the entire Starfall Forest.

A shadow of a human figure came out from behind a big tree, limping slightly.

Under the reflection of the moonlight, it could be seen that the figure had a round shield in their left hand and a curved blade in their right hand. Obvious patches and damages could be seen on the person's armor. When the figure took a few more steps forward, the moonlight finally shone on his face. His face was revealed to be filled with an expression of exhaustion. Also, the appearance of his disheveled head showed that it had not been taken care of for several days now. The new scars that could be seen on his face, where the blood had already dried, fully demonstrated the hardships he had been through.

Behind him, another man who was dressed exactly like the man in front of him walked out. The second man's condition was not any better.

However, the two men did not stop because of their current conditions. They moved forward mechanically with a numb feeling throughout their body. With the sound of footsteps, more and more figures appeared behind them. The tired look on their faces was exactly the same.

"Hold on just a little longer. When we arrive at the Starfall Lake that is just up ahead in front of us, we can have a short rest there." A somewhat hoarse voice rang out, which lifted everyone's spirits by a little bit.

The person who had spoken was Sean, the mercenary.

However, unlike the high-spirited look that he had been sporting before, the current expression on Sean's face was also very tired. There were inevitably a few scars on his body, one of which was deep and more visible. If it had not been for the amazing emergency aid skills from Old Pete, then Sean thought that he may not have been able to survive. But even though the wound had been partially healed, the pain from the wound had consumed a lot of energy from him. The scabbard of that Charles' Sword had also been lost somewhere earlier.

It was the sixth day of the trip in which Sean had led the group into the Starfall Forest, trying to cross through it. There were now only nine people left in the group. They had lost one guard.

When they had first encountered the Wind Striped Black Wolves, it had made Sean's importance in the group more obvious. Due to the commands from Sean and his deep familiarity with the Starfall Forest, the journey over the next couple of days was a lot smoother. Even though all the different kinds of magical beasts they saw along the way looked terrifying, under Sean's guidance, whose command was as accurate as a surgical knife, the magical beasts had become less terrifying to everyone. Not only were the magical beasts able to be easily crushed, but everyone had also harvested more than a dozen level one Core Crystals. Altogether, they had an average of one Core Crystal per person, which made everyone very excited.

Of course, as a group of veterans, nobody dared to take things lightly despite this. They had remained vigilant and had kept the night watch rotations. They still strictly followed their daily received instructions. Also, due to the dangers of the Starfall Forest, their usual night watch rotations had changed from the two-shifts rotation system to three shifts. The number of people in the night watch rotations had also been increased by one.

But even so, Sean had still underestimated the impact the real world would bring.

On the fourth night after everyone had set out, the impact of the Magic Tide began. The first person to notice was Cecilia. After all, she had a gift that had shocked Sean. As for Sean, even though he had known that the Magic Tide would create a deeper sense of magic in the Starfall Forest, he had not realized that the real world was completely different from the game. Of course, he had not expected for the hatred of the Wind Striped Black Wolves to be so deep either.

All of that couldn't have possibly occurred in the original game.

The day they had taken care of the three Wind Striped Black Wolves, the pack of wolves that had arrived afterward had indeed fought with other magical beasts. The pack's casualties had been quite heavy. After all, the wolf king of the Wind Striped Black Wolves had not appeared that day. However, Sean and the others had not taken that matter to heart. Instead, they had continued quickly towards their destination. Along the way, they had met several Wind Striped Black Wolves and fought with them. Sean and the others had used the methods they had utilized earlier. Because of this, they had been targeted by packs of wolves.

Finally, on the fourth night, the Magic Tide had changed, and the pack of wolves had also suddenly attacked.

Fortunately, Sean and others had not been asleep. They had woken up the moment the battle broke out. However, looking at the more than 30 Wind Striped Black Wolves, and even the appearance of the violent Wind Striped Black Wolf known as the Beast Captain, Sean could only order everyone to break out of the encirclement.

It was a fierce battle. Even though everyone had succeeded in breaking through the encirclement, one of the guards had ended up being surrounded by the pack of wolves because he was too slow. In the end, he was buried inside the bellies of the wolves.

For the next two days, there had been fights between Sean and the pack of wolves.

On average, Sean and the others would encounter a pack of wolves and fight it every few hours. Also, as time went by, the pack of wolves had increased in number of individuals rather than decreased. During the most recent encounter they had with a pack of wolves, the number had exceeded 50. They had not been able to get sufficient rest, so the team's combat effectiveness was naturally getting weaker and weaker. The tired expressions on their faces had also become more and more obvious. Coupled with the increase in their injuries, the smell of blood could no longer be concealed. The magical beasts that attacked Sean and the others were no longer just Wind Striped Black Wolves.

If it had not been for the influence of the Magic Tide, Cecilia would have been able to temporarily exert the strength of a rank three [apprentice magician]. However, she was afraid that everyone would not be able to hold on any longer. However, under such a fierce combat situation, Sean's experience points had soared like a rocket. In just six days, his experience had risen to level nine. Now, the experience points that could be gained from killing the Wind Striped Black Wolves or other magical beasts no longer made him feel the same burning pain as before.

Back when Sean was in the game, any players that were rank three and below were considered new. Therefore, the tasks they could complete were basic things like understanding the background of the world and the game system. Anyone who had wanted to integrate themselves into the world had to be above rank three. Only those above rank three could set up their own mercenary team, seek a part-time class in their kingdom, or even become an adventurer and start to take risks around the world, experiencing the completely different world.

Although he had now made a name for himself by setting up a mercenary team with Cecilia, he knew very well that, in reality, wherever he was, none of the mercenary teams considered Sean and Cecilia a threat at all. This was because in this world, it was impossible to set up a mercenary team just because someone wanted to. It could only be established after getting formal approval from the Mercenary Guild. Also, to become an adventurer, pioneer, or a demon hunter, a person had to pass the entrance tests written by those guilds.

The tests all required a class above rank three. Of course, if a person wanted to join a group like a mercenary team or a pioneer team, it would not be as strict. All it required for that was the team was willing to accept that person.

Therefore, Sean had not set increasing his level to level nine as a priority. The only thing that could satisfy him was that he had now saved 11 proficiency points. That was the biggest difference between him and other people. It was also his biggest guarantee that he could gain a foothold in this world. Also, he had a secret that no one else knew about. An average adult in this world had attribute points of 5(10). However, when Sean had arrived in this world, his attribute points were all 10(10), which were full points.

After taking up the new profession [mercenary], Sean had obtained the Charles' Sword. After obtaining this, his five attributes had changed to, "Strength: 11+3 (13); Endurance: 11+1 (14); Agility: 10 (13); Wisdom: 10(12); Will: 10 (13)". The figure was stronger than people with a profession at rank two. Only people like Old Pete and Drouin, who had fought and trained for a long time and were able to display the maximum potential they had reached, would be able to become stronger than Sean.

Sean was thinking about how to effectively use the 11 proficiency points to maximize his combat power when a wolf howled. It interrupted his train of thought.

Right after the wolf howled, the second and third howls sounded immediately after. The color on the faces of everyone suddenly changed.

"We don't need to run anymore." Sean turned his head back and looked at the place where the cry of the wolf came from. The tired expression on his face was no longer hidden but had been completely revealed. His entire body relaxed a lot. "No magical beasts will dare to come here into this area. Let us take a rest. We will be safe as long as we are here"

Seeing the relaxed look from Sean's expression, everyone around him also started to relax. Within the last six days, everyone had unknowingly started to treat Sean as the backbone of the entire team. All of their actions were completed per the instructions from Sean. Even Drouin, who had always retained his aristocratic pride, had also lowered his posture and taken the initiative to cooperate with Sean.

Drouin knew very well that if it had not been for Sean, then they probably would not have been able to stay in the Starfall Forest for so many days.

The Starfall Forest was much more terrifying than he could have ever imagined in his wildest nightmares.

Drouin had become more curious about Sean, but he knew that right now was not the time to explore this.

Just like Sean had said, the pack of Wind Striped Black Wolves very quickly caught up to them. However, they did not rush towards everyone as they had done the past couple of days. Instead, they stayed more than 10 meters away from where everyone was. They pawed at the ground angrily and howled continuously. However, they did not dare to take another step forward.

The blue fluorescent band seemed to be like a warning line It seemed to have formed two worlds, one inside and one outside.

The spot was around 30 meters in front of everyone, and there was a huge lake that had a radius of more than 100 meters. At the center of the lake, a huge black boulder that was filled with small pits and hills could be seen. It looked to be at least around 50 meters in diameter. Within the holes on the black boulder, there was an extremely thick dark blue liquid that was constantly surging. The blue liquid would flow into the lake and cover the surface of the entire lake with a dark blue glimmer. A strong thick substance with magical power emanated from the surface of the lake. The magical power was filled with an extremely strong chaotic force.

It was the star that had fallen at the end of the Twilight Era.

The entire lake was completely condensed by the Power of Star that had escaped from the star. It could even be said that the entire reason the Starfall Forest had been alienated was completely due to the Starfall Lake that was in front of everyone.