Being the first stratum clearance holder, Eleena was a tool for the event from a certain point of view. In fact, Edward and the others did not want the girl to risk entering the Faint Crystal Stratum at first.
After all, no one could tell what would happen inside. If the girl died in battle due to some accident, the Players would have to wait for her to revive and return to Crookes before they could enter the Elven SIN dungeon.
Still, Eleena managed to convince Edward and the others to let her join the vanguard party in search of her grandfather by saying that she would not venture deeper into the stratum.
And it went smoothly.
"Eleena? You guys … "The old man stared in shock at the Players who were well-equipped and not showing any signs of fatigue, much less ragged." How did you actually find this place? "He exclaimed in disbelief.
After he had obtained the first stratum clearance, he had spent over a hundred years under the protection of two high-level automatons, evading the rampaging automatons, and only then did he find the path to this place!
And yet, the Players had caught up to his hundred years' progress in less than half a day!
And yet, the old man did not know that the Players did not take more than half a day to catch up to him. In fact, it had only been around forty minutes since Eleena opened the entrance!
"How did we find this place? Because there are more monsters the further we go. " Joe scratched his head. "Is there a problem with the most monsters being the center of the dungeon?"
"I think it's Mister Marni's sudden death that allowed us to find the right path so quickly." Gou Dan muttered quietly at the back. Aside from Eleena who had a complicated look on her face, and Edward who had to keep a straight face as the leader, the others all had looks of sympathetic agreement.
Pink Flatfish, who was holding the rear of the party even shook his tail vigorously to show his agreement.
"The light of the God of Games is guiding us forward."
Edward said righteously to the old man, his helmet still burning.
Moreover, the Faint Crystal Stratum was designated by Xi Wei as a zone where small fry Level 5 Players could enter. Even if the runaway automatons were powerful and could kill a first-rate Player like Marni with a single blast, their bodies had become extremely fragile after losing the protection of the Elven SIN, and even Level 5 Players could deal effective damage to them.
To put it simply, the monsters on the first floor were true to their name. They treated high-level players and noobs alike. They could instantly kill veteran players, but they could also be stabbed in the ass by noobs.
On the other hand, defensive mechanisms such as traps and Pyrocrystal Cannons that could have posed the greatest threat to the Players were either directly suppressed or rendered useless by Eleena's clearance.
Although the old man felt that something was wrong, he didn't ask much.
Having lived for two hundred years, he naturally knew that it wasn't good to talk too much with shallow acquaintances, especially with devout zealots. At that thought, the old man glanced at Edward's blazing helmet. From what he knew, anyone who would wear such a headdress that could burn their own head would most likely be religious zealots who would commit suicide for the sake of their faith.
Either way, it was fine as long as he knew that these people were reinforcements his granddaughter had called in.
"I really want to thank you, but as you can see," the old man said, spreading his arms in an embrace to show off his withered body. "I don't have much time left. I would die soon even if I leave with you."
"Excuse me. Is that thing on your chest an elven stone?"
Edward asked carefully when he saw that the stone had lost its luster.
"That's right. It's the stone that keeps me alive, and now that everything has come to an end … when its last light fades, I would turn to dust along with it." The old man smiled faintly. "I've made my fortune from the high elves' ruins, and now that I'm returning everything to it, it does feel like the high elves are 'returning all their gifts to nature'."
"When I die, Eleena shall inherit everything I own, and you shall be the new mayor of Crookes …"
Before the old man could finish his sentence, he saw Edward take out a piece of emerald jade from his trouser pocket and gently touch the spirit stone on his chest.
The stone in Edward's hand promptly lost its luster and crumbled into dust, while the elven stone on the old man's chest shone with green light once more, as if something in the stone in Edward's hand had been drawn out.
In the old man's memory, the elven stone's radiance was only seen around fifty years ago!
In other words, he could live for another fifty years if nothing unexpected happened!
"W-what …" The old man was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
"That's a moonstone, something the wood elves restored based on ancient high elven magitech technology." Edward explained. "Without Mystery, elven stones couldn't be fully restored, and could only be made into an inferior version similar to Illum crystals."
It should be mentioned that the moonstone was a gift from the wood elf elders who came with them.
After witnessing how the Players fought to the death in the face of near despair and finally subjugated the ancient high elves' ruins, they finally let go of their pride as wood elves and acknowledged the Players' will.
Since they had yet to convert to the God of Games and were still in a state where they would die if they were killed, they naturally couldn't explore the Elven SIN, and had to leave the job to the Players.
Still, they had asked one of the Players to deliver his letter to the Elven Queen in Trinia, asking her for some items that could help in the exploration.
And the moonstone was one of them.
As a low-level substitute for the elven stone, not only could the moonstone trigger most mechanisms that could be activated with elven stones, it could also charge the elven stone as a source of energy.
Naturally, aside from the first batch of clearers, the other Players would have to trade the various high elven relics excavated from the Elven SIN if they wanted it.
From a certain point of view, even if that rule made the Players like Zhou Rippers who would rummage through a dungeon, it also helped Xi Wei make up for the lack of items to trade for in the event.
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