Chapter 686: A Newbie Paladin Found a Teleportation Item Called a Hearthstone

"Elder, do you know of the people from the other side of the continent?" Sera, along with the other elves and Elder Cywi, who had recently joined the Night Elves, had already logged off. Sera spoke up, "I think I met a few of them today."

"You did?" Elder Cywi replied, perplexed. "Why did they all look like elves to me? So many Night Elves."

"Uh..." A group of elves who had chosen the Forsaken glanced over. "Some of them are humans from the Eastern Continent."

"Oh... So they were humans from the Eastern Continent..." Realization dawned upon Elder Cywi. "We were all so busy raising our ranks that we didn't notice... We are already on the verge of the eighth rank."

She spoke with a distinct swell of pride; she had noticed quite a few elves left lagging far behind her, only at level five or six.

"Eighth rank...?" The members of the Snow Pigeon Squad froze in bewilderment. "The Elder means level eight, right..."

Reaching the eighth rank in a single day... it was enough to frighten someone to death!

"Uh... right, right!" Elder Cywi affirmed confidently. "This level eight must be different from the eighth rank. I feel it possesses not even half a percent of my actual strength. Why must they divide it into so many tiers?"

A group of elves walked out of the shop, conversing about their experiences playing this game called World of Warcraft today, even though they were all still very much in a novice state.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Though the shop's operating hours had increased, it was clear that not many players actually overextended into the next day's gaming time. After all, within the mystic realm, things were not quite like they were before Fang Qi crossed over; though the mystic realm could enhance one's strength, it exacted a heavier toll on both mind and body.

Slaying monsters all day long in World of Warcraft was still no easy feat.

Furthermore, not everyone had the luxury of time to play for ten hours a day.

"Whew...!" Mr. D stepped out of the shop door, exhaling a long breath as he gazed up at the sky, which was gradually deepening into dusk. "How has a whole day passed just like that?"

"Growl..." Just then, a strange sound rumbled out.

"Say no more... that is all for today's trials in the new mystic realm," Mr. D said. "I must go forage for food first."

"How embarrassing!" The onlookers from various regions who were watching the magical projection could not help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

"Judging by today's experience, this mystic realm does indeed seem quite excellent." In this world, across most of the prosperous regions, the Alchemists' Guild maintained magical communications and enchanted correspondence, making widespread interaction fully possible.

Thus, when Mr. D broadcasted his magical projection, even though the audience consisted primarily of the Orc Kingdom, there were viewers from other human nations, and even Orcs residing within human realms.

The script upon everyone's magical correspondence leaves flickered incessantly.

"I almost thought the Orc Kingdom had built another capital city upon a different land! It was utterly magnificent!"

"What kind of existence do you suppose this Eastern Continent workshop called 'Blizzard' is...?" — From 'White Tulip'.

"I truly never expected an Eastern Continent workshop to achieve such heights with a mystic realm. Did you see it earlier? There seemed to be quite a few 'Eastern Continent' people within the realm as well." — From 'The Watching Eye'.

...

At that moment, inside the Jiuhua City shop, two emissaries wrapped in thick black cloaks—looking far more distinguished than the average crowd—were just stepping out of the doors. "Do you think this could be a mystic realm crafted by the Western Continent?"

"It is entirely possible... didn't you hear? Some of them claimed to be from the continent of Nora... they must have been the ones to create this mystic realm."

The tall, thin emissary drew a sharp breath. "To think the Western Continent has reached such a level in the crafting of mystic realms? Is this 'Blizzard' a sect or some sort of organization... and what about that 'Softstar' from before...?"

The shorter, stouter emissary replied, "I believe it is imperative that we report this to the higher-ups."

...

Time slipped away. As the first batch of players logged off, another group who had failed to secure a seat finally found their chance to begin their journey upon this continent of Azeroth.

Deep into the night, the shop remained brightly illuminated. Fortunately, the current Jiuhua City had lifted its curfew; it was not until five in the morning that the players from the great sects and prominent clans finally departed.

Yet clearly, for the time being, the shop's seating remained reasonably sufficient. Though it was somewhat crowded in the early morning, by the time night fell, a few vacant spots could still be found.

...

A sliver of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, for not everyone shared Owner Fang's habit of sleeping past eight o'clock.

"Another new day..." Inside the dormitory of the Golden Gryphon Knights, several figures leapt out of bed with a nimble bound.

"Time to continue leveling up again..." a Golden Gryphon Knight remarked.

"I feel like I have so much motivation to wake up every day now..."

Commander Evan walked through the door with a darkened expression, taking in the scene before him. "..."

For these new players, a single day of gaming had presented countless hurdles—like Evan and his knights not knowing how to utilize certain skills, or like Sera and her companions spending ages running back to their corpses, or even getting utterly lost within a capital city.

Thus, now that the crisis of securing a machine had eased, many players were not in as much of a rush to log on as they had been yesterday.

This was, of course, even more true for the players of the old shop.

In the early morning, opening the communication jade revealed messages pulsing without pause.

"Whose stream are we watching today?"

"Watch Senior Chuxue's (Nalan Mingewei). Yesterday they ran into a few elves, and one of them fell to her death from an elevator. It was incredibly adorable!"

"There are actually elves?!"

"Really? What a loss, what a loss! I was leveling up by myself at the time and missed it..."

"At least you leveled up. I was busy watching Elder Su's stream back then... and missed out entirely!"

"..."

...

Meanwhile, over at the Canglan City shop, a certain Mr. D had arrived exceptionally early today. "Greetings, everyone. What you are seeing now is Mr. D's journey through World of Warcraft. Yesterday we witnessed the grand Orc capital of Orgrimmar, but I believe today's journey might prove even more fascinating."

With that, he followed the crowd into the shop.

Though a portion of the players who had hit bottlenecks like getting lost yesterday were in no hurry to play, the shop was still teeming with people in the early morning—so much so that the elves, intending to have breakfast while playing, logged into their machines first before ordering a bucket of instant noodles.

They ate their noodles while logging into the game.

As with previous games, World of Warcraft retained a portion of keyboard and mouse controls, at least enough to complete simple operations.

Sera was currently still sitting in the graveyard. "Forget it, I'll let the resurrection sickness fade first."

Recalling how she had died countless times yesterday, a wave of gloom washed over her.

"Why don't you use your Hearthstone to return to the inn first, and then come back?" the female elf Lorrin beside her suggested. "At least knowing the way would be better."

"What is a Hearthstone?" A few knights from the Golden Gryphon Knights happened to be sitting across from them; having just brought over a bowl of instant noodles, they asked casually.

"Just a stone imbued with a teleportation spell." Sera opened her bag, revealing a rounded stone etched with runes resting inside. "You didn't know? Though, it was that Chuxue who told us about it. Using this can take you back to a nearby inn."

"Is that possible?"

"The quest seemed to have us bind some sort of stone." Commander Evan walked over from behind. "But we haven't used it yet. Shall we try it in a moment?"

"Oh...? It actually works!" a knight exclaimed in surprise. "To think they would give out such high-grade goods right at birth! I only spent a brief moment channeling it, and I was right back at the inn!"

.