Floor 11’s wilderness contained ape-like folks. They did not bother Julien’s party and neither did this party bother them.
It was like walking through the primitive era and the monsters here looked like prehistoric era ones too.
Thanks to the Vice Guildmaster’s presence, no monster dared to approach them.
Julien felt like he was on a sightseeing trip to a prehistoric ti and the journey to Floor 12 was very smooth.
On Floor 12, the humans seed more developed but it was prehistoric ti nonetheless. So Players could be seen walking towards the Stairway of Ascendence here while so searched for hidden quests.
Celeste stated that it was a waste of ti to search for hidden quests as the rewards until Floor 20 were barely any good.
Floor 13. This place had a lot of rain and the area was muddy. It was difficult to travel barefoot, especially for Alia who could not see where she was stepping.
Julien offered to carry her on her back, the lady refused, but her Favorability rose by one, so it was still a major win.
Finally, the party arrived at Floor 14.
This place barely had any land. It was simply water.
Players could be seen rowing boats and moving towards the core.
The Stairway of Ascendance was visible from far, so one could easily follow it.
As promised, Celeste taught Julien how to swim here.
They stopped on a random island and created two wood cabins to rest.
Julien was then asked to change and Celeste began teaching him how to swim while Alia and Jackie rested.
They spent a week here with Julien spending most of his days learning about swimming. Alia and Jackie spent most of their days sleeping while Celeste did nothing but relax as well.
This felt more like a vacation and less like work to her. She was glad she took this job.
As the week was over, Julien had the confidence to float on any water body he was dropped into. He wouldn’t sink anymore and could swim properly.
Celeste also taught him so magical techniques, but he had no idea about mana or essence which he can channel to cast those magical techniques.
She told him that he could also try to find himself a water-related Arcana Card which could help him have an easier ti in water. These cards could be obtained from quests available in waters on the higher floors.
Julien took note of it.
The party of four then continued.
Floor 15. This place was a proper desert and so nomadic tribes could be seen wandering about.
There was a surprisingly high concentration of Players here.
Celeste stated that they will be looking at more Players from here onwards as the number of hidden quests would increase.
She also advised that Julien and his party could try clearing so quests to gain XP. Their goal should be to be around Level 30-40 before they reach Floor 20.
Thus, the trio looked around for so hidden quests.
Being the Vice Guildmaster, Celeste naturally had information on a few of the hidden quests on each floor. There was a hefty reward available for Players who would give info about this uncleared quests, so the guild knew a lot of things, and so did Celeste.
Celeste stated that the hidden quest on Floor 15 could be triggered by talking about the oasis water to the child crying under the palm tree.
The trio walked up to her and Jackie was the one to do the talking.
When the child heard Jackie, it sobbed and pointed at the oasis water.
[Hidden quest triggered!]
[Floor 15 Hidden Quest #7 — Stop the depletion.]
Difficulty: E
Quest: At the heart of Floor 15 lies this oasis. Its rich water is a source of vitality for many nomadic tribes. However, for reasons unknown, the water seems to be depleting.
Clear Condition: Stop the oasis from drying up.
Ti Limit: 7 days.
Reward: 10,000 XP, Following of the Floor 15’s Nomadic Tribes.
Failure: None.
The quest sounded interesting to Julien.
He discussed it with Alia and Jackie.
The holy lady stated the oasis could be drying up due to the underground water’s depletion.
The cold assassin stated the oasis could be drying up due to so blockage.
The two only had assumptions and to test that, sobody had to dive into the water to see the bottom.
The water felt relatively safe to swim, so it was Julien who decided to jump in.
He just learned how to swim and wasn’t going to leave any chance to not put his swimming abilities to test.
Though, he did not directly jump in.
He first asked Celeste whether the water was free from monsters or anything which could harm him while swimming.
When she gave a clear signal, he jumped in.
Julien could hold his breath for two to three minutes. It was enough to go deep underwater.
The bottom wasn’t too deep and in just thirty seconds, he could see what was the reason for the water’s depletion.
Where there was supposed to be bedrocks, there was sand.
The entire bottom was covered by sand.
He reported it to his two subordinates.
"If the bedrocks are covered, the underground water cannot surface. If the underground water cannot surface, then the evaporated water at top wouldn’t be replenished. This ans…"
Jackie was the one to derive a conclusion.
"That’s right. This ans we need to clear the sand so the underground water can seep through the top." Julien finished Jackie’s sentence.
"Yes." Jackie nodded.
"Good luck, Master and Jackie." Alia rely smiled at the two and wished them once they arrived at the conclusion.
The solution to their problem was simple. It was to remove the sand from the bottom.
It wasn’t possible for her to swim to the bottom and take the sand out. She could only sit back and cheer for them.
"Thank you." Julien and Jackie said and went to work.
Celeste walked up to Alia at this point.
She stared at the diving Julien and Jackie and said with a stoic face, "On surface, the quests look simple. But that’s never the case for floors above Floor 10. You should be careful and remind them the sa."
If the quests were this simple, wouldn’t everybody be able to clear them and ascend to the top rankings?
Alia was enlightened. She turned to Celeste and bowed. "I thank you for your guidance, Lady Celeste."
"No need to be so formal, young miss." Celeste shook her hand and said.
She turned to stare at the two divers again. "Let’s wait for them to co out. If sothing goes wrong, I’ll intervene."
Alia nodded and watched what would unfold next.
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