Daniel flew back to Soul Devouring Vale, and a system notification imdiately rang out.
[Ding! You have completed the stage quest.]
The first stage—slaying the Soul Devourers—was already finished.
What ca next was escorting Kelly back to a human city.
He landed beside Kelly and spoke calmly.
"From now on, humanity will never have to offer sacrifices to the Soul Devourers again."
Seeing that he had returned completely unhard, Kelly broke into a bright smile and nodded vigorously.
"Big Brother Faustus, you’re amazing!"
"The mighty Soul Devourers were like paper in front of you."
"I want to beco a truly great powerhouse like you—soone who stands tall and unshakable beneath the heavens!"
Boom—!
The mont Kelly finished speaking, her aura suddenly surged.
A flicker of surprise flashed across Daniel’s eyes as he cast Detect.
[Kelly (Exalted-grade)]
"Uh... she advanced to Exalted-grade just like that?"
Though he had been ntally prepared, he was still startled.
The quest description had indeed said Kelly would grow stronger during the process, but he had never expected it to happen at this speed.
The mont he completed the quest, she leveled up along with it.
A hidden instance really was worthy of its na—even the characters inside it would grow with the storyline.
Steadying himself, he prepared to move on to the second phase.
"Let’s go,"
he said to Kelly. "I’ll take all of you back to Starlight City."
A bright light instantly flared in Kelly’s eyes.
Starlight City—a great human city!
Returning there ant returning to the human world. It ant they would never again have to wait in despair for the Soul Devourers.
"That’s wonderful, we can go ho!"
Kelly was overjoyed.
As soon as she spoke, she ran off to find the others who had also been offered as sacrifices.
Daniel stood where he was and watched.
He discovered that Kelly was actually quite interesting. Borrowing the montum of his complete annihilation of the Soul Devourers just now, she managed to persuade everyone with only a few words and smoothly beca the leader of the group.
And he also noticed that the boys and girls Kelly had rallied had all grown stronger as well.
Though they had not reached Kelly’s Exalted-grade, they had at least advanced to epic-grade.
Daniel shook his head, inwardly marveling once more that this instance was anything but simple.
After gathering the group, Kelly walked over to him and said softly, "Big Brother Faustus, we’re ready to go."
Daniel smiled and nodded. "Good."
...
Sowhere inside the hidden instance.
Several players stared blankly at the town before them.
The terrain of this place—and even the town’s na—looked far too much like a certain main city in the main world.
"Black Godfather, you’re not mistaken, right? This is it?"
Black Godfather was so excited his whole face had turned red.
"How could I possibly be mistaken?!"
He pointed at the town and shouted, "This—this is Luminara!"
Hiss—!
The players beside him all sucked in a sharp breath.
Good grief. If they had not known Black Godfather well enough to practically share the sa pair of pants, they would have spat in his face on the spot.
How could one of the Seven Great Main Cities, the grand and mighty Luminara, possibly be this shabby little town in front of them?
And yet this shabby little town just happened to be called Luminara!
"Oh right, Black Godfather—you’re supposed to know Stellar’s history better than anyone, aren’t you?"
"Tell us, then. What exactly happened a hundred thousand years ago?"
Black Godfather took a deep breath, nodded, and slowly began:
"A hundred thousand years ago, the human race had spread everywhere, but they were treated like marionettes by the non-human races of every realm. Those outsiders manipulated humanity into fighting itself, turning human society into complete chaos."
"It was an age so chaotic it couldn’t have been any worse. Humanity could barely survive, and war was everywhere."
"But a hundred thousand years ago, the Soul Devourers were wiped out, root and branch, by so mysterious Strength. At the sa ti, humanity’s own stronghold—Starlight City—was reduced to flat ground by a teor that fell from the sky!"
"Hiss... no way. Could it be that..."
...
Daniel led the group out of the valley, and a notification imdiately rang in his ears.
[Hint: You have discovered "Starlight City"!]
In an instance, there was no such thing as traveling normally.
The scene transition was seamless. They were directly teleported to the quest location.
Daniel lifted his eyes and looked toward the great city before him.
Towering. Massive. Its architectural style carried a sense of raw brutality.
Savage. Rough.
Those were his most direct impressions.
Starlight City?
He ran through the cities of Aetheria in his mind. Among the nine main cities, there was no place by that na.
At this mont, Starlight City was in the middle of a war.
Inside and outside the city, blades and spears glinted everywhere as countless human warriors fought like mad.
The battle cries thundered through the air. Both sides had bloodshot eyes, as if they bore irreconcilable hatred for one another.
Daniel frowned.
Every war he had fought in the ga had been against foreign races. This was the first ti he had ever seen humans slaughtering other humans.
They were all human—was this really necessary?
It did not take long before he understood.
Kelly cried out in shock, "The Brula Tribe has attacked!"
The children behind her also exclaid one after another.
"So the Divine Tongue Tribe and the Brula Tribe have finally gone to war?"
"Then... doesn’t that an we can’t go ho anymore?"
"Heh... maybe our hos are already gone!"
"..."
Listening to their discussion, Daniel pieced together the situation.
This seed to be a war between two human tribes—but why had they chosen to wage civil war inside the city itself?
He spoke up and asked, "Kelly, what exactly are the Divine Tongue Tribe and the Brula Tribe?"
Kelly sighed and said, "The Divine Tongue Tribe is the main force within Starlight City. They have a population of several million! Their backer is the sirenfolk."
"The Brula Tribe is equally powerful, but behind them stand the shadowkin."
She lowered her head, and her voice was filled with sorrow.
"In truth, this world also has the Godkin, the Undead Realm, the realm of the elves... They all support us humans, but they also treat us like toys for their amusent."
"If they want us to live, we live. If they want us to die, then we die."
"When they get bored, they stir up conflict among humans and make us kill one another. The fighting never ends—just so they can satisfy their idle entertainnt."
"Big Brother Faustus... don’t you think that’s tragic?"
Tragic?
It was far beyond tragic. It was utterly miserable!
Daniel’s face had already darkened halfway through hearing it.
By the ti she finished, his fists were clenched so tightly they crackled.
His expression turned grim, and his heart sank to the bottom.
He simply could not imagine that the humans here had actually beco... beco this spineless!
How had humanity fallen to this point?
A wave of killing intent suddenly exploded from his body.
"Big Brother Faustus?"
Kelly asked timidly.
Daniel stared fixedly at the human battlefield before him, his teeth grinding audibly.
"Humanity should not be like this! Humanity should not be this spineless!"
Kelly asked carefully, "Then... what should humanity be like?"
Daniel’s voice had grown hoarse from fury.
"Humanity should stand united! Humanity should straighten its own spine! Humanity should stand on equal footing with every other race!!"
He looked deeply at Kelly.
"In any case, humanity is not a toy for other races to play with!"
Kelly silently engraved his words in her heart. Looking up at him, she said with both admiration and seriousness,
"Big Brother Faustus, you’re right!"
"If humanity really could beco what you described... how wonderful that would be."
"Big Brother Faustus, I... I want to help you."
Daniel looked at Kelly’s earnest face and gave a bitter smile, shaking his head.
Just then, the system notification suddenly exploded again.
[Ding! You have completed the quest [Soulreaving Mont]!]
[Ding! You have received the next-stage quest [Tribal Soul]!]
[Hint: Your quest log has been updated. Please check it for details!]
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