"Anyway."
Linda coughed and said with a serious expression, "I won't sell out any of them, so don't even think about getting your hands on my potions!"
"Not selling, fine then." Kafuni pouted, then pointed at a pocket on Linda's chest. "Selling that one must be fine, right?"
Kafuni was pointing at a pocket watch. She saw the chain looked like it was made of white gold, so it had to be worth something.
Unexpectedly, Linda refused even faster. "Not this one either."
"Ha?! Why is it only my things for sale? You show some sincerity too!" Kafuni said angrily.
Linda awkwardly scratched his head. "Didn't I contribute seven copper coins?"
Seeing Kafuni's expression grow increasingly ugly, he finally dropped the joking attitude. "Sorry, an ordinary pocket watch would be one thing, but this one really won't do."
With that, Linda took the pocket watch out of his pocket.
It was round, about the size of an infant's palm, with a matte gold casing. When opened, a soft melody played.
Kafuni leaned closer and saw a photograph embedded inside the watch case. There were two people in the photo: Linda and a young girl with long black hair.
The girl had pale skin and a very frail body, but her lively, gem-like black eyes were full of vitality. She was playfully holding Linda's arm, using her other hand to make a V-sign peace gesture next to her eye.
"Who is this?" Kafuni noticed that when Linda looked at the pocket watch, his gaze became extremely tender, like a spring breeze brushing across a sunlit lake.
So this jerk of a Hero had a side like this?
Linda was silent for a moment before saying, "My sister."
"Sister?"
"Yeah. She went missing in the World Tree two years ago, and she still hasn't been found."
Linda looked toward the towering tree standing in the center of White Dove City, remaining silent, seemingly reluctant to talk about it.
In his mind, numerous memories surfaced.
Three years ago, Linda came to the game's Secret Realm Continent, but he was not alone.
When he was sent flying by a truck, Linda had been pushing his sister Lin Xi in her wheelchair.
The brother and sister, along with Leia, had established the Snow Goose Adventurer Party together.
The early days went smoothly.
Yet on the Fourth Floor of the World Tree, Lin Xi went missing, vanishing as if into thin air, leaving behind no trace.
When Linda returned to the party's base, heartbroken and lost, he eerieously discovered that the pocket watch Lin Xi never parted with was sitting on his desk.
To this day, Linda still hadn't figured out what happened that day. Did Lin Xi return to White Dove City ahead of time and leave her pocket watch behind?
Or had Lin Xi died long ago, and someone else obtained the pocket watch and placed it on his desk?
Either way, there were many things that didn't make sense.
More than half of the reason Linda entered the World Tree was to search for Lin Xi.
"Don't worry, she can definitely be found. Once this Goddess recovers her power, I'll help you too."
Seeing Linda looking a bit down, Kafuni couldn't help comforting him.
"But there's one thing I find strange. Why can you be certain she's missing rather than eaten by a Monster or something?"
Kafuni changed the subject. "The space inside the secret realms isn't actually that big, right? As long as you search carefully, you can always find clues."
Linda shook his head. "Subjugation-type secret realms are like that—the space inside is small, the structure is simple, and basically all you encounter are Monsters. But plot-type secret realms are different."
In the game "Secret Realm Continent", some dungeons required you to start fighting the moment you entered. But others set up several quests across a massive map, letting players explore and fight monsters at the same time until they encountered the final boss.
Plot-type secret realms belonged to the latter.
Kafuni asked in confusion, "Subjugation-type, plot-type—what do all those mean?"
"These are what we locals call them."
Linda explained, "Over here, secret realm types are generally divided into three categories. The first kind is the one you just mentioned, and also the most common: Subjugation-type."
"Subjugation-type secret realms are pretty much the same as running dungeons in a game: kill small mobs, find the Secret Realm Guardian, wipe them out, and then you clear it. This kind of secret realm usually doesn't have a large space, and you can walk a full circle inside within a few hours."
"Oh, and what about the second kind?"
"The second kind is plot-type."
"They are worlds crafted by the Goddess of the World Tree, each with a different background—technological, wasteland, magic, and so on... The space in these secret realms is thousands or tens of thousands of times larger than the former. Finding a person in one is truly like finding a needle in a haystack."
Linda put the pocket watch back into his inner pocket, took a deep breath, and gradually adjusted his mindset.
By now, he had long since moved past the desolation of Lin Xi's disappearance and had decided to ascend the World Tree step by step.
A brief moment of sentimentality was enough for him to recover.
Right now, getting his new teammate Kafuni acquainted with the types of secret realms was the most important thing.
Kafuni thought for a moment and said, "Plot-type secret realms are kind of like illusion trials? Then what is the third kind?"
"The last kind is Public Great Mystic Realms."
This time, Linda's tone was a bit more relaxed.
"Public Great Mystic Realms are the type adventurers like the most. There are no mandatory quests inside; it's equivalent to a freely explorable open world. All adventurers who reach this floor appear on the same map and can run into each other.
There are numerous elite monsters and wild bosses in the Great Mystic Realm. Killing them yields massive rewards, abundant mineral resources, and other treasures—it's a veritable welfare secret realm.
There is a Great Mystic Realm every 5 floors, and adventurers can enter once a month; entry is not allowed at other times."
Linda thought to himself that this setting was different from the game. In the game, you could run it once a week, or infinitely if you spent money.
Placed in the real version of the Secret Realm Continent, regardless of whether they were royalty, nobles, or commoners, everyone could only run the Great Mystic Realm on the same floor once a month.
Because of the strict limit on attempts, adventurers had to forge upward in order to acquire more resources.
Linda held up his fingers and said:
"There is a Great Mystic Realm every five floors, which also determines the titles of adventurer parties, as follows:
Below 5 floors: Unranked.
Level 5: Novice Adventurer Troupe.
Level 10: Rock Adventurer Troupe.
Level 15: Iron Adventurer Troupe.
Level 20: Morning Sun Adventurer Troupe.
Level 25: Glory Adventurer Troupe.
Level 30: Grandeur Adventurer Troupe.
Level 35: Legend Adventurer Troupe.
Level 40: Mythical Adventurer Troupe.
Anything higher than that hasn't been conquered by anyone yet."
After finishing his explanation, Linda felt his mood improve quite a bit.