Chapter 99: A MAP FROM THE GUILD MASTER FRIEND

I returned to StoneBrook empty-handed and with aching legs.

The city gate welcomed me with the unchanging nighttime bustle. Players came and went, street vendors shouted, offering their wares, and the aroma of roasted meat from the "Red Dragon" Tavern pierced my nose. My Satiety had already dropped to nearly half, but my stomach was not the priority tonight. I stopped under an oil lamp near the fountain in the square and reopened the quest log, hoping the text inside would become clearer.

Of course it did not. Starless night still perched there, just as vague as two hours ago.

"Okay," I muttered while closing the system window. "Guessing alone is clearly inefficient. I need data from someone who has explored this map longer than I have."

I thought for a moment. Of all the people I knew on this server, only a handful had a wide enough explorer network. Alya’s party was still too young in terms of exploration. Kitsuna and Vivi were busy with crafting. And asking this to NPCs on the street would only produce answers like, "A lake? There are many lakes in this world, Miss."

Then one name appeared in my head.

Arthur.

Guild Master of the Knights of the Round, who now controlled the entire Central Region. His members numbered in the hundreds, and they hunted every day across every corner of the plain, from the grasslands to the forest edges. If there was a mysterious lake nearby, almost certainly one of his members had seen it.

I walked to the waypoint crystal in the corner of the square. Its surface emitted a soft blue light, pulsing gently like a heartbeat. I touched it, and a list of locations appeared before me.

[Select Destination: Silvergrass Village / Gale-Wind City / Ironhold Castle]

[Teleportation Cost: 3 Silver Coins]

I chose the last one and pressed confirm. Blue light enveloped my vision, my body felt light, as if pulled by an invisible thread, and a moment later I stood in a completely different place.

Ironhold Castle looked far different from the last time I saw it.

Previously, this place had been a battlefield. Black smoke billowed from the towers, Ouroboros troop corpses littered the base of the walls, and its giant gate had melted into a glowing red metal mass from my Shaped Charge. Now, almost all traces of that chaos had vanished. Players in Knights of the Round uniforms, white cloaks with the round table emblem on their chests, came and went carrying wooden chests, parchment scrolls, and piles of building materials. In the distance could be heard the ringing of hammers from NPC blacksmiths working nonstop.

At the front of the castle, where the old gate once stood, a giant wooden framework now supported the skeleton of a new gate. Master Geppetto stood on scaffolding, pointing out instructions to a team of carpenters attaching thick oak beams. On the other side, Thorek, or one of his disciples, was forging reinforcing iron plates for the gate in an emergency workshop.

I stared at that scene while remembering a line of text on the system UI: [DESTROYED / UNREPAIRABLE]. Thousands of pure gold coins to rebuild a single gate. Arthur must have drained his guild’s treasury dry.

Ironic, I thought flatly. I was the one who leveled it, and now I come to ask its owner for help.

Two spear-wielding guards at the side door looked at me suspiciously when I approached. One of them, a young man in silver armor, immediately straightened his posture the moment he saw my silver-white hair and red eyes.

"You’re... the White Elf from yesterday’s battle!" he exclaimed, half startled, half admiring. "The Elite Mercenary who held the troops at the chokepoint!"

"I need to meet the Guild Master," I said briefly. "Just say Syl has come."

The two guards exchanged glances, then one of them ran inside. In less than three minutes, I was already being guided through the stone corridors toward the office on the second floor of the main tower.

Arthur’s office looked more like an overwhelmed administrative office than a castle command room.

The large table in the center of the room was nearly submerged under piles of parchment scrolls, maps, and notebooks. On the wall hung a large map of the Central Region with dozens of colorful pins. Arthur himself sat behind the desk with his armor half-removed, his blond hair messy, and a very thin dark circle visible only because I knew him under his eyes.

The moment the door opened, he looked up from the scroll he was writing. His tired face changed into a wide smile.

"Syl! I can hardly believe it." He leaned back in his chair, stretching his back with a cracking sound. "It’s rare for you to show up on your own. Usually I have to send messengers three times before you’re willing to talk. What’s going on? Don’t tell me you want to sell bombs to another guild again."

"I’m looking for something," I said, wasting no time on small talk and sitting directly in the guest chair across from his desk. "A lake. Specifically named Mirror Lake. It might be at the border of an area called the Forest of Discard."

Arthur furrowed his brow. "Mirror Lake? Forest of Discard?"

"I got the clue from a quest," I explained, choosing my words carefully. "I’ve already swept Murkwater Swamp and the forest between StoneBrook and Silvergrass, but the results were zero. That lake might not be in an area commonly visited by players. Because the Knights of the Round hunt most frequently on this plain, I thought one of your members might have seen it."

Arthur fell silent. His fingers tapped the surface of the desk, and his eyes stared toward the large map on the wall without truly seeing it. I had known this body language since high school. It was the sign that he was digging through his memory.

"Forest of Discard..." Arthur muttered. "That name isn’t on the official map. But I remember, our hunters once mentioned something like that. Wait a moment."

He stood and walked to the wall, then flipped through several additional parchment sheets hanging beside the main map. His eyes scanned the northwestern area of the plain.

"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed while pointing to one spot on the northwestern edge of the map. "Previously, one of our hunting teams got lost in this area while chasing a Dire Wolf Pack. They said the forest there was extremely dense and dark, even in the daytime. The trees were dead and dry, and the monsters roaming around were mostly undead types and wolves of levels 36 to 40. Because the EXP wasn’t worth the risk, few people wanted to go there. They called it the Forest of Discard because it looked like a dumping ground for the world’s leftovers."

I immediately straightened my posture. "And the lake?"

"Hold on, I’m not finished yet." Arthur raised one hand, his eyes narrowing as he recalled. "One of the hunters once said they found a small lake inside that forest. Its surface was extremely calm, almost without a single ripple, to the point that the reflection of the sky in it looked perfect, like a mirror. They gave it their own name, ’Mirror Lake,’ because that was exactly what it looked like."

My heart beat a little faster. It matched.

"And not far from that lake," Arthur continued, "there was a dilapidated church. Its stone walls had partially collapsed, its roof was full of holes, and its door looked as if it hadn’t been touched for decades. We once assumed it was just an ordinary old building, so no one tried to enter. Besides, that place felt... strange. One of my members said the hair on the back of his neck stood up every time he approached."

A dilapidated church beside the lake. My speculation moved quickly. That could be the ruins of the last outpost of Selene’s followers, or even the gateway to the temple itself. And the perfect reflection of the sky, exactly as mentioned in the manuscript.

"Can you show me the exact location?" I asked.

"Better than that." Arthur returned to his desk, pulled a tall scroll from the pile, and opened a system window in the air. "One of my members who serves as a Scout always records his mapping data. I’ll share his mapping data with you. The entire northwestern area, complete with monster points, safe routes, and the coordinates of the lake and that church."

He moved his fingers quickly through the air.

Ting!

[System: Arthur (Guild Master - Knights of the Round) wishes to share Exploration Map Data: Northwestern Central Plain (Forest of Discard).]

[Accept / Decline]

I stared at the notification for a moment. In the Second World Online system, mapping data that had already been charted by others could be shared, but it was usually expensive. Many guilds sold data like this at high prices. Arthur was giving it away just like that without asking for anything in return.

I pressed Accept.

Ting!

[System: Map Data successfully synchronized. New area unlocked on World Map: Forest of Discard (Northwestern Region). Marker points added: Mirror Lake, Abandoned Church.]

My world map immediately changed. A wide region in the northwest that had previously been dark was now filled with detailed lines: footpaths, monster zones, cliffs, and in the middle, two small silver-colored points. I zoomed in on the display and calculated its distance from Ironhold. About three hours of travel on foot, less if using Wind Walk.

"Thank you, Arthur," I said sincerely. "This helps a lot."

"Don’t mention it." Arthur smiled widely while leaning back in his chair. "You already saved this castle with your crazy bombs. If it’s just map data, consider it a small interest on my debt. But..."

His face turned serious. "Be careful there, Syl. The monsters in the Forest of Discard are not ordinary opponents, especially for a solo player with HP... well, you know your own status. And if that place really has something to do with something big, I don’t want you to just disappear."

I blinked. There was something that warmed in my chest, something I had not realized for a long time. Arthur had always been like this. Since we were children, he had always worried about other people before himself.

"I can take care of myself," I answered, turning my face away so he would not see my expression. "Besides, I always bring backup plans. And backup plans for the backup plans."

Arthur laughed. "That’s what I appreciate about you. If you need help, send a message. I can send some of my best people."

"No need. This place seems to only be open for one person." I stood and straightened my white cloak. "But if I need something, you’re the first person I’ll contact."

"Is that a promise?"

"That’s an efficiency calculation."

Arthur chuckled again while shaking his head, then returned his gaze to the pile of parchments on his desk with a resigned face. "Alright, alright. Good luck, Syl. And if you find something interesting there, tell me about it later. Now I have to go back to wrestling with village taxes, territory distribution, and complaints from guild members protesting about their salaries."

"Have fun suffering."

"Thanks for the moral support."

I stepped out of the room while holding back a thin smile.

On the tower balcony, the night wind brushed against my face. From this height, I could see the entire castle: torches burning along the walls, the silhouettes of players still working overtime, and the half-finished framework of the new gate in the distance. Far to the northwest, beyond the dark horizon, lay a hidden forest whose very name already sounded like a threat.

I opened the map again and stared at those two silver points. Mirror Lake and the Abandoned Church. The riddle of the starless night was still unsolved, but at least now I knew where to look for it. And according to my experience, half of all riddles are actually finished once you stand in the right place.

Lucky I have a friend who happens to be the owner of a large guild, I thought while smiling crookedly. Otherwise, I might still be circling around the swamp until tomorrow morning.

I touched my magic bracelet, double-checking my equipment: Musket V2 fully loaded, special arrows neatly arranged in the quiver, and stamina potions enough for one long expedition. Then I took a deep breath, channeled a little mana into my legs, and felt the wind gather around my boots.

Northwest, Forest of Discard. The night was still long.