Days passed after Sally got her new skill, and it became February, the time that the event was to begin.
Sally, Chrome, and Kasumi immediately decided to participate.
Even Maple, who had been quietly resting until now, felt motivated to explore, and so she logged in as soon as the event started.
Just as Maple went into the guild home, Chrome and Kasumi jumped out as if trading places with her. Maple turned around to see them run off, and then Sally came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
“You came too then. Are you going to explore now?”
“Yes. It’s been a while, but I’m going to work hard!”
“Then I’ll give you a quick explanation of the event.”
And so Sally started to give her an outline.
The first step of this event involved collecting items on the field and using those items to teleport to a different field.
Not only that, but the part of the field that you would arrive in was chosen at random.
“And that field is a jungle. According to management, there will mainly be valuable materials there…and maybe some skills?”
“Oh, I see, I see.”
“Uh, also there is that thing. You apparently can’t use HP recovery items and skills inside of the jungle. So for you…I don’t think you can use ‘Meditation.'”
And if you wanted to return to the town, you either died or pressed the ‘Leave Field’ button that now appeared underneath your status.
“So I guess I shouldn’t use ‘Dedicated Affection’ excessively?”
Sally nodded.
It was too risky to pay the cost with your own HP.
Additionally, she must avoid getting hit by any piercing attacks. But still, Maple did not need to pay much attention to normal attacks, which made her situation much easier than other players.
“Okay, I’m going to go gather some items.”
“See you later.”
Sally ran out of the guild home like Chrome and Kasumi, and went out into the field.
Maple, on the other hand, walked out leisurely until she reached the field.
“Now, I should look at the information again…”
Thanks to Sally already giving her a brief explanation, Maple was able to understand the contents quickly.
There was no specific monster to beat this time, and every monster on every layer could give you the ticket to the jungle.
And so Maple went out to explore the 5th layer for the first time and kill some monsters.
Maple stepped onto the soft ground and looked at her surroundings as she walked.
“Sally said that there were a lot of cloud monsters.”
Maple made her way through the undulating field, climbing walls and going down slopes.
“Hmm, no monsters here. Maybe I should try going back to the 4th layer?”
Maple thought as she put a hand on her chin. But then she saw a thunderhead and got an idea.
Sally had told her about these clouds that had found while exploring. There were monsters inside of them.
And since she had used all of the balls that Sally had given her, she thought that it would be a good idea to collect some more as well.
“Alright, let’s go! Woah, ah!?”
Maple’s foot slipped and she went rolling down a hill and fell flat on her face.
“Uh….it doesn’t hurt…but I need to be careful.”
Maple stood up and walked more carefully this time.
Maple entered the thunderhead and encountered a thundercloud.
“I haven’t fought for a while!”
Weapons grew noisily out of Maple, and all of them pointed at the small cloud.
However, before Maple could fire, small clouds came out of the main cloud and started flying towards her.
“…How cute.”
Maple stopped her attack and started to pet the small clouds. They were trying to electrocute her, but the attacks just sent out sparks and did no damage to her at all.
“But I have to get some items now, so sorry?”
And so Maple approached the main cloud and quickly destroyed it with her shield.
“Drops….nothing.”
This time, Maple was not able to acquire the necessary item for the event.
So the only thing she got was one ball that could make bubbles.
But still, Maple had enjoyed her first expedition in a long while, and she was not bothered that she had not accomplished anything.
It would take two more days before Maple got the item she needed to enter the jungle.