You say this is a love game?

Mizutani Makoto thought of Gu Chun's memory. The oppressive feeling caused by the Nue that wreaked havoc hundreds of years ago was even greater than the oppressive feeling brought to him by Tang Shizi... This Nue beast, its head was almost the size of a thatched hut, and its entire body could be called a "giant monster". Its strength must be at the strong level or above.

He really couldn't imagine, if the final BOSS was this thing, how long would it take him to work hard to raise his realm?

In particular, there are really not many bosses left in the private Hiiragigaoka Academy.

If he kills a few more, he will have wiped out all the bosses.

Thinking of this, Mizutani Makoto couldn't help but shake his head.

Forget it, let's just keep killing monsters. Instead of dwelling on these trivial matters, it's better to hurry up and level up. Kurosawa Ryojin had said that this rift was constantly eroding the present world. Although there hadn't been any sudden incidents like the "Gate" recently, similar accidents might happen in the future. He definitely had to prepare for future changes.

If you don't work hard when you are young, you will regret it when you are old.

Not to mention that he didn't want his high school to be plagued by deaths from time to time, which would be very unlucky.

Mizutani Makoto's first stop was to go to the courtyard.

He stood in front of the vermilion torii gate in the school corridor, placed his palms on the vermilion wooden surface, and closed his eyes quietly.

A faint glow began to appear on the wood of the miniature torii gate, and golden light swirled out like summer fireflies, as if pulled by some invisible force, slowly rotating around him. Finally, the light converged and turned into thin lines that sank into his body.

Mizutani Makoto's body began to become transparent and his outline blurred.

next second.

The boy's figure dissipated like morning mist.

Teleport point: [Teaching Building Atrium]

In front of the vermilion torii gate in the courtyard of the teaching building, Mizutani Makoto's figure emerged from the flowing light. He took a step forward and arrived at the familiar teaching building.

This is his birthplace.

Mizutani Makoto turned around and looked up at the cherry tree behind him.

This cherry tree was far less pure than what Gu Chun had seen in his memory. Now its branches were as twisted as a group of strangled snakes. The thick cherry blossoms on the crown glowed an oily dark red in the moonlight. When the wind blew, all the petals rustled, and a dull sound was heard.

He had always felt that this cherry tree was special.

After all, how could ordinary cherry trees grow so tall?

It looks to be tens of meters high, much taller than the ancient toon tree that is more than 20 meters high. The thick crown of the tree is like a blood-red cloud. It is because the enlarged atrium is spacious enough that the sky in the atrium is not blocked by the cherry tree.

In Soul Travel, such a special layout usually has a BOSS or hidden plot.

"There are signs of fire."

Mizutani Makoto raised his hand and began to stroke the thick tree trunk.

This cherry tree was planted by the Onmyoji.

In the present world's Yami High School, there is also a cherry tree in the courtyard, but that cherry tree looks ordinary and cannot be compared with the blood cherry in the crevice.

"This cherry tree must have sealed Nue's body..."

"It should have been in the world, but now it has taken root in the cracks of the earth..."

"Was this moved in by someone? Was the corpse of the Nue in the present world also moved into the crevice..."

Mizutani Makoto murmured softly.

Through his speculation, he felt as if he had touched the tip of the iceberg of the story.

The reason he came to the courtyard was to investigate the cherry tree planted by the Onmyoji and to look for clues related to "Nue".

But what to do with this cherry tree?

Wanna try two chops?

At this moment, Mizutani Makoto suddenly thought of something. He took out the [Kurosawa Yoshihito's Candlestick] from his backpack. Under the reflection of the flickering candlelight, rows of scattered footprints appeared on the ground.

Mizutani Makoto was shocked.

These footprints are different from the hidden footprints in other places.

The footprints in other places are usually very orderly as a whole, and are the traces left by a person who has completed a certain section of the road. However, the footprints under the cherry tree are particularly scattered, as if there are many people walking under the tree, and their footprints are intertwined, causing great chaos.

"hiss……"

Mizutani Makoto walked around the tree.

Huge roots were even exposed above the surface, winding and spreading like ancient blood vessels, forming a rugged road surface. The moonlight shone through the treetops, casting shadows of varying depths on the rough bark and twisted root nodes.

Makoto Mizutani was searching under this cherry tree.

He pondered for a while, then followed the footprints all the way. Many of them led to the teaching building, and some even led him to his classroom. He casually cut off the JK girls who were in the way, and repeated this process about ten times. Finally, he stopped behind a tree trunk.

Here, the roots of the cherry trees are intertwined and spread on the ground, piling up layer upon layer to form a natural barrier, as if the earth itself had cracked here and was eventually filled up by the roots of the cherry trees.

Mizutani Makoto squatted down and touched the tree roots on the ground with his fingertips. Besides feeling a faint warmth, he felt a touch as hard as steel.

[The roots of the cherry tree reject you.]

"Is there really a hidden route?"

Mizutani Makoto immediately became excited.

He took a few steps back, pulled out a large sword from his backpack, and with a loud shout, swung the sword and slashed.

Clang! !

The tree roots slowly squirmed, and the large sword obtained from the sword ghost couldn't stop trembling, and the rebound felt even harder than steel!

I am speechless.

Mizutani Makoto glanced at the plummeting durability of the Sword Demon's Nodachi, which had dropped by one third in the blink of an eye. You know, he had used this sword to chop down several bosses, and the total durability dropped was only a little bit. But when he chopped at the tree roots, his sword was almost cut off?

Withdrew.

Mizutani Makoto immediately gave up the idea of ​​trying the [Liaoyuan Tachi]. He still had to take care of the durability of this knife.

"Obviously, this place must be related to the core of the private Hiiragigaoka Academy. Maybe it is the final boss room, or a hidden powerful boss."

"I probably don't have the ability to handle this place right now..."

Mizutani Makoto frowned and suddenly thought of the basement floor of the school building - there were also tree roots entangled there, and the roots of the school building were almost exactly the same as the roots of the cherry tree in front of him.

"That place is also sealed off by the cherry tree?"

"No wonder the curse of death appeared on the second floor. It really is a high-end area."

"I'll definitely have to explore these two places later, but for now, I'll just jot them down."

That’s it for now.

Today, the only places that Makoto Mizutani has not explored are the artificial lake and the auditorium.

The school building is blocked by a cursed death map, and there is currently no idea how to pass it.

The area above the teaching building is blocked by a strange staircase, and its intensity is medium.

On the top floor of the Kendo Club's dojo tower, Kitajima Sensei is also in the middle position, but it seems there are two stages.

In the women's restroom on the second floor of the club building, Hanako-chan is on top of the other girls in the restroom, and her strength is a little exaggerated.

Not to mention the school gate area, Tang Shizi was guarding there like a god of war, and there was no thought of challenging him at all.

These five places were places he had explored before but got stuck for various reasons.

Now his spiritual power is 27, and the spiritual power range of the intermediate level is 21-40. According to this calculation, after the task [Young men have always been chivalrous since ancient times], his spiritual power points have officially entered the intermediate level.

He is quite good among the middle position players, right?

Kitajima Sensei is only at the master level of [Kendo Tennen Rishin-ryu]

Mizutani Makoto's current setup is very similar to Kitajima's. He's also at the mastery level in kendo, and the appearance of the Liaoyuan and Shizue katana has made up for his weapon deficiencies. The only difference between him and Kitajima is the physical difference between humans and monsters, plus the difference in armor defense.

He is just a smaller version of Bei Dao.

But he can take drugs!

As long as he's on drugs, his swordsmanship is at a master level, and every jump he makes is accompanied by sword energy! This sword energy can definitely break through Bei Dao's defense!

"Let's put aside the rising Hanako and the unclear Tang Shizi for now."

"As for the other two bosses, I'm already qualified to challenge them and take on the middle position."

"The reason for being so cautious is because there are two stages on the North Island... As for the remaining Staircase Tales, that guy won't have so many configurations, right?"

Mizutani Makoto thought to himself, feeling quite itchy.

Also, there are still an artificial lake and an auditorium left on this map, and the exploration level of these two places is zero.

He now has three things to do.

One is to go to the back mountain to brush souls and collect spiritual flowers and herbs to refine the [Boiling Blood Secret Medicine]

The second is to defeat the BOSS that was previously opened and unlock the previously inaccessible areas.

The third is to explore the last two places, and the fog of war will be completely removed from the map of the entire Private Hiiragiyama Academy.

"Open the picture."

He has five lives tonight.

He can do all three of these things, and his thinking is very simple.

It is very meaningful to open the map completely first. It means that the resources are fully visualized. If you encounter a new BOSS, you can defeat it if you can. If you can't defeat it, put it together with other BOSSes, weigh the pros and cons, and then decide on the strategy.

At the same time, leave two opportunities for exploration. Anyway, his current exploration time is completely overflowing, and he cannot finish all the souls even if he uses all five lives to farm souls. Leaving two opportunities to farm souls and medicinal materials is enough, and the remaining lives can be used to challenge the BOSS.

I have clear ideas and I am a diamond level 1!

Go straight to the gymnasium.

Yes, Mizutani Makoto will not miss the opportunity to collect information.

In front of the gymnasium, Kurosawa Ryojin looked into the distance and saw that the artificial lake was near the gymnasium. Even if the map of the entire Private Hiiragigaoka Academy was enlarged, the two were only five or six hundred meters apart.

"An artificial lake?"

When mentioning this place, the man showed a slight fear on his face, as if he had a psychological trauma.

Kurosawa Ryojin swallowed his saliva and said in a trembling voice: "Mizutani, the artificial lake is very dangerous."

“What exactly is it like?”

Kurosawa Ryojin shook his head and gave a direct reminder: "I won't charge you for this information. After all, I haven't explored the area in depth, and the information I know is not detailed. I can only provide you with some reference..."

"In that lake, there slumbers a very powerful monster, probably one of the urban legends. I've only glimpsed her from afar and witnessed the terrifying scenes when she wandered around, but I didn't dare approach her or investigate in detail... Mizutani-kun, I'm afraid of death too."

He lowered his head in embarrassment: "This place is a crevice. I am already a soul now. If I die again, I am afraid I will not be able to reincarnate in the future."

"Ah."

In other words, there is an enemy in that place that Kurosawa Ryohito is afraid of?

Mizutani Makoto stroked his chin and thought seriously.

Kurosawa Yoshihito's information is not omnipotent. He is connected to the rift as an "earthbound spirit", so he knows a lot of unknown information, but there are some places he really dare not explore.

For example, as for the second and third floors of the school building, he only relied on his connection with the cracks to perceive them, and vaguely felt that there were props related to "Koizumi Hanako" in that place, which might be able to weaken her resentment, but he himself did not dare to go to the corridor on the second floor of the school building. According to him, he had a strong premonition that he would not be reborn if he walked in.

Well, there is no way to be reborn... That's right.

The "big family" on the second floor of the school building is really gloomy.

"So, what about the Great Hall?"

"As for the auditorium..."

Kurosawa Ryojin hesitated for a moment, then said, "There's an urban legend called the 'Snow Globe' there. It feels strange to me, a bit like the second floor of the school building... The two places might be connected, but I'm stopped by it and don't dare to explore."

All the intelligence that could be gathered has been collected.

Cautious and brave, prepare to set off.

The first is the artificial lake.

He had been to this place once.

"According to Lao Hei, there must be an extremely powerful boss in this place, an enemy that I'm probably unable to deal with."

"But I still have to go down and explore. At least I have to see if there are any monsters, props, plot points, etc.... Even if I trigger a boss battle, it's nothing. It's just an opportunity to explore."

According to the plan, he can waste his first three lives, and the main thing is to completely open the map of Private Hiiragiyama Academy.

The lake in front of him was still deep, and Mizutani Makoto was playing with the [Scale of the Drowned] in his hand.