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Emilia wasn't surprised or taken aback by her partner's warning, and even dared to smile. 'Of course something is 'wrong'. If I recall correctly, it should be around this time that the 'heroine' encountered her first hidden quest in the original timeline, right?'
Cynthia hummed. "Right."
It was unlikely for Sylvia to be able to keep something like that hidden from her team when they were together all the time, so it was safe to assume that she simply hadn't received such a quest this time.
Obviously, although this 'world will' was quite indifferent to the hero and the heroine, it wouldn't completely ignore their existence.
After all, calling them the 'son of fortune' and 'daughter of destiny' wouldn't be an exaggeration, and not taking advantage of such 'good tools' would just be stupid, no matter how confident the world will was in its grand plan.
What alarmed Cynthia, however, wasn't the fact that Sylvia had received a different hidden quest this time around, but that the one who first received the 'clues' was actually Emilia.
"It should be impossible for the world will to distinguish you from a generic girl on this planet! At least, it shouldn't be able to perceive the energy inside you…" Cynthia furrowed her brows in worry.
Knowing that her partner's heart was disturbed, Emilia sighed. 'Don't worry about it so much. Isn't Sylvia a part of our team now? The world will could just be taking a more 'discrete' approach to 'groom' her, and everything could also just be a coincidence.'
Of course, only Emilia herself knew how little she believed in her own words.
'What matters now is for us to make the best out of every opportunity we get.' The crimson-haired elf smiled. 'Regardless of everything else, as long as we complete this quest, it should be possible to reach level fifteen before attempting the first dungeon.'
[Level 15] was not just a small milestone, but also the point at which players could pick a profession and acquire its first skill!
Depending on the professions they choose, a team of level fifteen players could definitely have a significant advantage over the others.
"Based on what we know so far, this hidden quest should be about discovering the source of whatever made this 'Blood Essence' corrupt." Danielle tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And since forty of these beads gave us sixty percent discovery points, it's not necessarily required to find a lot of these first."
After discussing it for a while, Emilia finally chimed in with an idea. "When I first discovered it, twenty of those only gave me twenty points of discovery, which means something else must have given us another twenty this time."
They chewed over her words for a while, then Sylvia suddenly had an epiphany.
"It's the rabbit!"
Danielle frowned. "But we've already killed a few more, and the hidden quest is still only sixty percent discovered."
Sylvia nodded. "Of course, what made it progress wasn't the fact that we killed it, but that we saw it after it had eaten that corpse!"
It took Emilia a while, but she also soon realized what Sylvia meant, and the dark-haired heroine calmly explained it in detail to the rest of them.
The mechanic of some 'corrupted' item influencing those who carried it around was quite common. And since that rabbit appeared a lot crazier than the others, it could only be because the corpse that it ate had been 'corrupted'.
Nico suddenly shuddered. "Since it counts as a 'clue' and gives us discovery points… doesn't that mean we also have to eat a corpse or something?!"
Robin and Danielle couldn't help but roll their eyes in unison. 'Of course that's her first thought.'
Despite being the shortest in their group, their twin-tailed teammate was actually a huge glutton, and especially loved meat.
Thinking about how she didn't even shy away from such 'cannibalistic' thoughts, the two of them couldn't help but shudder.
Emilia giggled. "Unfortunately, that corpse is long gone, so we can only make use of the beads that we got."
Although there was no 'Use' option when interacting with the [Corrupted Blood Essence], nothing was stopping them from popping it into their mouth.
"Ahh!" The priestess exclaimed in realization, then blushed. "T-That's good!"
Looking at Danielle and Robin's disgusted expressions, though, she couldn't help but feel wronged.
She obviously didn't want to do it, so why were they still blaming her?!
Fortunately, Emilia soon shifted the topic with a smile. "Robin has 'Basic Scouting', so why don't you give it a try first?"
The tomboy coughed, but could only steel her will under the beautiful girl's expectant gaze. 'H-Hopefully this 'Blood Essence' or whatever doesn't come from humans. Even if it's just a game, it's too real.'
Taking the 'pill' from Sylvia, she resolutely popped one into her mouth… and chewed.
"It feels like… gum…?" Suddenly, Robin's expression changed, and her eyes turned red. "W-What—!"
Emilia hurriedly reached forward to hold the taller girl who'd stumbled back in shock. "What's wrong? Are you okay?!"
Although the soft and fluffy feeling on her back was wonderful, Robin's face soon twisted as she grit her teeth. "I-I'm fine, you can let me go!"
Naturally, the crimson-haired elf didn't insist, and stepped back to observe her curiously.
Robin took a deep breath to 'calm herself', stared at Emilia carefully for a while… then did it again without a word of explanation to her teammates.
Danielle frowned. "What are you being so mysterious for? Quickly explain what's going on!"
The taller girl coughed, not sure whether she should 'expose' her secret, but then realized that there were quite a few more beads in Sylvia's inventory, and everyone would find out sooner or later.
Letting her gaze wander around one last time, she finally nodded in 'resignation' and smiled. "It actually feels quite pleasant and invigorating, as if I could run a thousand miles without feeling tired, and while my vision is clouded red, I can also see through a lot of things!"
The first part was easy to understand, but the second half of Robin's explanation left the rest of her team wondering.
Danielle frowned. "See through… what do you mean?"
Robin coughed, just about to 'divert' the topic to how she could see through the trees and stuff, Sylvia screamed in shock. "So that's why you kept staring at Emilia?!"
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