Meanwhile, Terry and Jom were walking through the streets of Crookes, feeling very curious.
Unlike the atmosphere of a commercial city like Lancaster, Crookes was filled with giant chimneys that rose into the air and billowed black smoke. There were also circular metal feeding pipes all over the city, making it feel like a city of heavy industry.
Even the air seemed to carry the faint scent of charcoal.
Pikes the old dog was snorting, its tail wagging, seemingly dissatisfied with the city's air quality.
After the System released the pet function, Pikes became Jom's pet, and he could be revived by paying game coins and EXP even if he died in battle.
Still, the Players didn't like taking in pets.
After all, Xi Wei was a little short on cash, which was why he had put the Player's pet, mount, follower, and tamed monster slots together from the start.
Even normal Players could only take in a limited number of creatures, let alone Holy Lancers who needed a mount.
Moreover, since pets like Pikes were weak in combat and couldn't level up through normal means because they couldn't worship the God of Games, the Players usually wouldn't take them in.
Wouldn't the Warty Tidal Flat's tool frogmen who could go underwater to lure monsters be nice? Wouldn't the Western Continent's Spicy Bunny Head … ahem, the Long Ears be nice? If push came to shove, the mounts that the Junglewalker Players tamed were not bad either …
Though they knew that, Terry and Jom had been traveling with Pikes for a long time now, and Pikes had gotten over the trauma of losing its master through its adventures and started to like its two new masters. It would be too cruel to abandon it, and Pikes could easily die in battle if they didn't take it in as a pet, which was why that was the only option.
Naturally, Terry and Jom didn't think it was a waste. Moreover, they were planning to strengthen Pikes.
There were actually many ways to strengthen a pet, and the simplest was to give it the bloodline of a magical creature. The System also provided such a service (it could only change the species of magical creatures that the Players had killed), but it had to be done by completing a series of difficult quests automatically assigned by the System and paying a lot of game coins.
On the other hand, Terry and Jom weren't troubled at all, and instead excitedly started on the quest. To them, the Twin City Cup was a period of confusion where they should go for their next adventure, and now that they had a quest, they didn't even have to think about the future.
"So this is our quest destination, right?" Jom muttered as he turned on the System page and compared the quest information.
According to the rough mission mark on the minimap, and after asking for directions, the two of them finally found the dilapidated bungalow in the depths of a small alley.
Terry, on the other hand, looked a little tired. He clutched his stomach and said with a bitter expression, "I hope they can treat us to something delicious. I'm starving, and I didn't see any restaurants along the way …"
"We wouldn't be able to eat even if there's a restaurant. We've already spent all the Rions Mister Marni gave us, and all we have now is game coins." Jom replied, before knocking hard on the door. "Is anyone here?"
He knocked for a long time before the dilapidated wooden door opened a little, revealing half of an old man's mottled face that was full of wariness. "Who are you people?"
"We are messengers from Lancaster, and we bring you a letter from Corinth Atherton." Jom drew out the well-kept parchment envelope from his bag, its bright red wax seal perfectly intact.
The old man looked at them doubtfully, and then carefully studied the personal postmark on the letter before opening the door.
But just as Terry and Jom were about to enter, the old man stopped them.
"Wait. Each of you should pull out a strand of hair for me to see."
"Pull out hair? Is your custom that weird? "
Jom was confused.
"Custom … hmph." The old man sneered. "Crookes doesn't have such a custom. This is to test if you're swampmen!"
"Swampmen? One of those slimy humanoid monsters? "Terry asked in confusion.
"That's a swamp monster. Swampmen are shapeshifting monsters that can copy a person's appearance and memories, right?"
On the other hand, Jom was more knowledgeable about it since he would browse through the forums to learn more about magical beasts.
"Even memories can be copied?" Terry paled in shock.
"Don't worry. Our memories are blessed by the gods, and those things wouldn't keep our memories even if they took our appearance." Jom said.
After all, the Players knew too much. The other gods would have noticed something was wrong if any random person could read their memories, and hang him up to be dissected into pieces. That was why Xi Wei's true form would be alerted if a Player's memories were read by an external power, and he would immediately execute a divine retribution with his permission.
Apart from being able to avoid memory reading, this mechanism could also create a strong resistance against mind control-type skills.
Jom naturally wouldn't know the specific reason behind it, and simply continued to explain. "Moreover, it's said that swampmen would return to their original mud-like state due to the loss of lifeforce after their tissues leave their bodies. That's probably why we're plucking a strand of hair to prove that we're fine. "
Both Terry and Jom didn't object after understanding the reason, and each plucked a strand of hair to show to the old man for verification.
The old man only let them in after making sure that their hair was fine.
"What do you mean by the swampmen in this city?" Jom asked curiously. "Did wild monsters sneak in? Isn't the church in the city doing something? "
"I'm not sure about the specifics, but there are definitely swampmen sneaking into the city. We've found water sources contaminated by the swampmen in several places, as well as the corpses of victims whose identities had been replaced by the swampmen." The old man quickly closed the door and locked it after the two entered the house, and only then did he look relieved. "The city watch's reputation is in tatters after not finding a single clue over the past few days. We can't rely on the church either, so we have to be careful … "
Jom showed a serious look, inwardly wondering if that was the next part of the quest.
"Give me the letter."
The old man sat down by the fire and took the envelope from Jem. "Let's see what that old fella has to say to an old cripple like me."
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