VCRMM: Chapter 286

In mid-air, Si Sheng’s figure flashed and reappeared behind the silver-haired young man.

Xu Sili sat on the shadow leopard and played Sprouting, adding health to the soldiers in danger in the dense forest. His long hair fluttered gently in the air and even his back view was moving.

Si Sheng floated behind him, silently guarding him and watching him. He didn’t make any sound to disturb Xu Sili. He just used the sound elements to listen carefully to the sound of the flute.

Xu Sili stopped once the song ended.

“Has everyone been rescued?” He turned to look at Si Sheng.

Si Sheng nodded. “I have fulfilled my mission.”

Xu Sili touched his cheek and said with a smile, “Let’s go find Silin.”

Underneath him, September swung his tail and looked down at the dense forest. Suddenly, he seemed to sense something. September’s pupils narrowed slightly and he looked into the depths of the dense forest.

At the same time, Si Sheng also looked over and frowned slightly.

After noticing that his gaze was different, Xu Sili followed his gaze but saw nothing. He couldn’t help asking, “Ah Sheng, what’s wrong?”

Si Sheng retracted his gaze.

He saw the young man’s puzzled expression and stretched out a finger. He hooked Xu Sili’s hair behind his ear before holding his hand. “Ah Li, haven’t you always wanted to explore a ruin again?”

Xu Sili’s eyes lit up as he looked into the depths of the forest again. “You mean, there are new ruins in that place?”

Si Sheng nodded. “Moreover, there are some special things.”

Xu Sili couldn’t help becoming eager to try it out when he heard this.

However, he was more cautious this time. Last time at the trial site in the Asmo Mountains, he and Si Sheng almost encountered danger in the illusion. They might’ve had an adventure in the end, but it was impossible for them to be so lucky every time.

“Wait a minute, let me check it first.”

Xu Sili used Insight on the dense forest below. Then he called up the panel of the future forum and started searching the forum.

Siasa Forest.

He searched for relevant posts, but strangely, there was no information about the Siasa trial site or the Siasa Ruins.

This proved that this ruin hadn’t been discovered by players.

Only…

“Fairy?”

Xu Sili blinked.

He saw the key word that appeared on the forum posts when referring to the map of Siasa Forest and Xu Sili couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised.

Sprite? Was this a new ancient tribe?

It shouldn’t be the sprite in his impression of Chinese civilization. After all, strictly speaking, September and Chamo were such sprites.

Xu Sili became interested and started to browse through it carefully.

Si Sheng sat behind him and hugged him. The two of them sat on the back of the shadow leopard and flew slowly into the depths of the forest.

Their speed was slow enough for Xu Sili to browse all the posts.

In fact, there weren’t many posts about the Siasa Forest. Most of them appeared between the third and fourth years of the open beta.

At that time, the future players finally pushed the map exploration beyond Roland’s original borders. Of course, it was just an exploration and not a full recovery like what the current players were doing.

The first player to discover the dense forest of Siasa took a photo of a creature that had never been seen before.

Xu Sili looked at the photo taken by the player.

The photo wasn’t clear. According to the player, he took a screenshot from a recorded video.

It could vaguely be seen that there was a giant purple-black tree in the background. It should be the mutant plant that Si Sheng had just dealt with. Most of the picture was occupied by a black vine.

At the tip of the black vine, he could vaguely see a figure with transparent wings, emitting a faint fluorescent light. This was particularly conspicuous in the overall dark photo.

But it was too blurry.

Since this was a captured screenshot of a video clip that had been continuously magnified, the fine lines of the black vine could be seen clearly.

Perhaps it was a focus problem, but the figure at the front of the vine wasn’t clearly captured.

Judging from the proportions, this small figure with transparent wings was definitely no more than 20 centimeters long.

Xu Sili couldn’t help thinking of the miniature fairies in fairy tales. The most typical one was probably Peter Pan?

He couldn’t remember clearly.

Xu Sili shook his head and continued to look at the information provided by the player.

“This is the clearest photo I captured from the video,” the player wrote.

“It was so fast that I couldn’t see it clearly.”

“I tried to chase it but was targeted by the giant tree. You don’t know how fast the vines are! I’m a wind elementalist but I couldn’t even fly away. I was entangled by the vines, dragged into the tree hole and eaten…”

From the player’s description, it could be judged that the giant tree in the picture was the one killed by Si Sheng.

In other posts related to the Siasa Forest, Xu Sili also learned the name of this giant tree—

The screaming dryad.

Once the body was damaged, the giant tree would release ultrasonic waves. They were very powerful and gave a variety of debuffs.

Due to this post, the players curious about the new species of sprites kept coming to the Siasa Forest. But basically, no one was as lucky as the first player.

After all, the dense Siasa Forest was still too dangerous for players. They had to avoid various elite monsters and bosses while searching for NPCs whose specific coordinates were unknown.

The people who could find it were definitely extremely lucky.

Later, the leader of a mercenary group couldn’t stand it any longer. He simply formed a group of a thousand people. After running away countless times, they finally killed one of the giant trees.

However, the players didn’t continue forward after killing the giant tree.

It was because the benefits were too low. They defeated the giant tree boss, but apart from the giant tree itself being used as materials, nothing good dropped.

Large mercenary groups gradually abandoned this map. Only a small number of players would use various stealth skills to explore the dense forest of Siasa.

However, in the next two or three years, no player found any trace of the sprites, let alone their lair.

Gradually, the sprites in the dense forest of Siasa became a legend. Even the player who first photographed the sprite couldn’t help doubting himself.

The area of Escher Star was so large, and there were so many places for fun and adventure. Gradually, players forgot about this tough nut to crack.

It wasn’t until the later stage when battleships and mechas were available that a bombing-style cleanup of this dense forest was finally launched.

Of course, in addition to this dense forest, there were countless maps destroyed by mechas and warships driven by players. This efficiency was undoubtedly much higher than single battles to clear monsters.

But such bombing…

Xu Sili felt that even if there were sprites, they would’ve probably been slaughtered by the player’s cannonballs, right?

After reading the last post, Xu Sili closed the future forum and looked into the depths of the forest again.

In other words, the ruins of Siasa Forest had never been discovered.

In the ruins, there might be sprites.

Xu Sili became more and more interested in the ruins.

“Let’s go and take a look,” he said to Si Sheng.

Si Sheng nodded. Under his command, the shadow leopard started to increase his speed. They reached the depths of this forest in the blink of an eye.

The dense Siasa Forest was full of various mutant plants. Most of their branches, leaves and trunks were purple-black and their appearance was likely to cause discomfort.

Xu Sili didn’t feel anything in the sky, but when he went deep into the dense forest, the gloomy environment made him feel creepy.

Fortunately, Si Sheng and the shadow leopard were here.

“Are there really sprites living here?” He looked at these plants. It was hard to imagine that any creatures could survive here except for powerful interstellar beasts.

Si Sheng didn’t answer, but September asked, “Your Majesty, have you sensed it too?”

“Huh?”

Xu Sili was startled and couldn’t help asking, “September, can you sense where the sprites are?”

The shadow leopard denied it. “I can only vaguely sense the breath of sprites. They are very good at hiding, and… I think this dense forest is a bit strange.”

Xu Sili heard this and once again looked around.

The gloomy forest was filled with a terrifying atmosphere. He wondered, “What is strange?”

September paused before whispering, “I don’t know…”

Xu Sili, “……”

It was the same as saying nothing.

He no longer dwelled on this dense forest. This place made him feel uncomfortable everywhere.

Fortunately, Si Sheng’s passerby halo meant they could fly all the way safely without worrying about being attacked by these giant trees. Otherwise, they might not have proceeded so smoothly.

“Let’s go to the ruins first,” Xu Sili said. “September, tell me about the sprites. What type of race are they?”

The shadow leopard thought about it for a moment. “They are pure magical creatures, born from the elements. Once their lifespans come to an end, they will dissipate between heaven and earth, leaving nothing behind.”

Xu Sili pondered on his words. “Will they not reproduce?”

“No.”

The shadow leopard whispered, “They aren’t a very popular race though.”

“Why?”

“They are naughty and like to play pranks. Since they are good at hiding, they always disappear without a trace afterwards. You can’t find any trace of them at all.”

September frowned as if recalling some unpleasant memories. “However, they still know their limits and only make some harmless jokes occasionally.”

“And…”

He paused before continuing, “People who are successfully teased usually have good luck for a period of time, so some races still like them.”

Wow, a luck bonus?

Xu Sili was a bit surprised. This buff was actually quite good. If the players knew about it, they would probably do whatever it took to be teased by the sprites, right?

“Wouldn’t someone specifically capture a sprite to bring themselves good luck?”

The shadow leopard shook his head. “Only those who they really want to tease will have good luck.”

“It seems that… if the sprite likes you, they will tease you?”