Even though they already agreed that Cotton will not be involved in fighting enemies, we still need to let Cotton regain all of her lost levels. It is a necessary thing so that her stats that I cannot view anymore will be boosted once her level is raised.
Since she will not be joining us in the fight, we will just be boosting her levels by power-leveling her up.
"Master, if we are going to power-level her up, does that mean we are going to the Dark Sea once again?" Lina asked.
"Not now. It's the best place to farm experience points for now but it's a waste of Mass Teleport Scroll to do that. Besides, we don't need to hurry up and let Cotton catch up to level 300 immediately. Just like before, we just needed her to get used to the new feeling of leveling up as her body and stats grow."
"Master's got a point. If she stays in level one, her status won't grow at all and that is bad for us in case she gets in trouble. The higher level she gets, the stronger she will be and even if she is still a child, higher levels only boost her growth which would mean it is going to be great for her. Besides, we are the ones who will be fighting and only Cotton will be on the sideline. With the passive of Master, we will be able to increase her level with ease while she is just watching," Lina added.
"If that is the case, where should we go farming monsters? There's plenty of areas we can go to farm monsters though..." Gobu scratches his head.
"How about we head to the area where the monsters appear every raid? You know, beyond the swamp?" Tina suggested.
Beyond the swamp... That's not a bad idea. In fact, that should be the best-case scenario. After all, once the expedition after the third wave ended will begin, the target for players to explore is the place beyond the swamp.
Currently, players who are participants in the quest line event are not allowed to proceed beyond the place. There is an invisible wall that blocks them from progressing, making it troublesome for them to check what is beyond the swamp. They can't circle around it either as long as they are part of the quest line, the invisible wall will keep them from going beyond. But there is a big loophole here and it involves myself.
Since we are technically not part of the quest, we can go and explore beyond that place without the invisible wall blocking our way forward since that only applies to players who are participants in the war. I am just an outsider who happens to know what it was and was invited but declined. So in a way, I am connected, yet, not also connected as I am a direct participant. Also, we can harvest whatever was in there as well that can only be accessed during the expedition so we can go there in advance. It's basically stealing opportunities from the other players but I am not a saint and I am a hoarder of loot, so it doesn't matter if they were not meant for me, finders keepers, you know.
Since that was decided, I started preparing for the exploration. I even brought the tools I needed as well. Pickaxe. shovels, and many other things needed for mining stuff. I don't know what was present there as when I went there in the past, many things were claimed already therefore, it's better to be prepared knowing all of the treasure present it is very much plentiful for me to take.
"Alright. Everyone, get inside the Summon's Area for now. I will be flying so that we don't need to walk over the swamp. Who knows what's beyond there, we should always be careful."
Everyone went back to the Summon's Area and as for me, I did one final check before I opened up my wings and started flying toward the unknown area of the swamp.
...
...
...
...
Beyond the swamp...
I continue flying beyond the vast swamp without stopping and carefully passing through rocks and trees. Just like I expected, the barrier that stopped the players from proceeding did not affect me, allowing me to bypass that invisible wall and continue forward. There doesn't seem to have any land in the area aside from the muddy swamp but soon enough, I found the dry land that I am looking for.
I didn't land immediately and proceeded to fly a little further to make sure that it wasn't just a dried-up area of the swamp and that the remaining land forward are back to muddy parts. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and I managed to ensure that there will be dry land onwards. So I decided to land and proceed on foot now.
"Master, should we go out now as well?" Lina asked.
"Don't come out just yet. I will proceed alone for now and call you all out once I can make sure that everything is fine. Having a big group might disturb something big in here so we should be careful about our movements."
"Understood."
What I said is indeed real. This place is crawling with monsters and if I compare the number of monsters present here, it would be very similar to the number of monsters present in the frozen region of Sandurk. The only difference is that the Frozen Region is more dangerous and bigger monsters are dwelling on the frozen lands in which if you compare them to the monsters dwelling beyond the swamp, the latter would probably lose against one monster dwelling in the former land.
But since bosses are present here as well, I wanted to make sure things are fine and dandy so that we also don't get ambushed by any monsters as well. It will be troublesome if I do get ambushed. After walking for a while and seeing no enemies present, I immediately called out everyone and they came out of the Summon's Area, with the bonus of Cath Palug who joined in as well.
"Oi, you little f*cker, why did you come out? Are you trying to siphon experience points that are meant for Cotton? Go back into the Summon's Area!" I scolded Cath Palug though that was a clear not possible way as the little bugger does not even care whether you are scolding him or not.
"F*ck you to you, human. I can do whatever I want. If not for the curse that Merlin put on me, I would have stomped you flat by now. Also, I am already level 300 as well, are you an idiot? Since the level cap has yet to be lifted, I am not going to gain any experience points, you idiotic little twerp. My presence here doesn't matter on her EXP gain so if you think she does not level up fast, it's either you gain a low amount of experience or just she does have a huge pool of experience points needed to level up. Don't blame the innocent ones, alright?" After complaining, Cath Palug then landed on my head and rested there. Since he was small, he can remain there just fine.
"Don't you dare mess up my mask alright? I will beat you up if you do."
"Yeah, yeah. Just go and proceed, a 100 steps from here, a group of monsters is there gathered together. Just shut up and take care of them already if you wanted experience points to gain."
"Huh...for once you are useful," I was surprised by Cath Palug for his sudden generosity.
"Be grateful, human. I am so bored to death inside that area of yours that I am craving violence for once. So go, and do what you came here for."
Since he decided to do so, we went exactly to where Cath Palug mentioned the monsters we still have not reached 100 steps and we already found the monsters in the distance.
"Master, I get monster visuals. They are corrupted ants. It seems they are currently eating, what shall we do?" Gobu asked.
"We get closer first. Once we are close enough but far enough for them to avoid their detection, Tina will cast a [Sleeping Powder] on them before we will strike."
"Got it," Gobu nodded.
Tina also nodded and ensured that her ability is ready to cast. Lina is the one in charge of carrying Cotton this time around. According to her, she wanted to carry her around for once and act like a nanny.
We got a little closer to the monsters and as soon as we are in the right distance, I signaled Tina to release the powder. Tina complied and showered it to the ants.
Soon enough, they started to get drowsy and our time to strike finally arrived when all of the ants started to sleep.
"It's time to harvest our labors."
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