Hidden Task - Revive the Shadow Lords

The little creature took a moment or two before it finally revealed the secret. "Your mission is to revive the Shadow City, but the center of it all is the place where you are currently living - the Shadow Castle. Along with this city, you will have to revive this castle too. This entire city is bound to this castle, and this castle is bound to its four Lords. Without reviving this castle, you can't revive the city, and without reviving the four Lords, you can't revive the castle."

Revive the four Lords?

To say that Seraphina was shocked by the new revealation of the plot would be such an understatement. She just sat there staring at the fluffball as if it had grown another head. When she didn't stop staring at it for a while, the creature finally started growing somewhat restless and glared back at her.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" It demanded.

"What do you mean by reviving those four men? What is even there to revive about them? And how can I revive them?" Seraphina demanded answers in return.

The little creature let out a sigh before it answered, "I have no idea what that actually means. The four of them looks completely fine to me if not for their powerful and mysterious auras. I just told you the top secret that is filled in the data of the system. The information that I have clearly says that all three of them - the Shadow Lords, the Shadow Castle, and the Shadow City, needs to be revived together to lift the curse. Otherwise, no matter how hard you try, you will fail in your mission."

Seraphina became silent as her thoughts started running around her head in jumbles. It seemed like the Afterlife Council withheld some really important information about the mission from her. The question was - why.

Letting out a small sigh, she shifted her attention toward the screen that was still hovering in front of her. She quickly tapped on the screen to accept the rewards before she checked the task that she needed to perform to reach Level Two.

[Grow vegetables in an area of 10 yards]

"Vegetables?" Seraphina stared at the screen in confusion. The system wanted her to grow vegetables, something she had never done before.

"You already know that the food here is supplied by the Afterlife Council. Since you can filter the soil and water from contamination using the rewards you got for reaching Level One, it's time to use those rewards to take a step toward reviving this place." The little creature explained.

"But I don't know anything about growing vegetables." Seraphina quickly admitted.

"Then learn it. You can find plenty of such videos in the system. Watch them and learn how to grow vegetables." The fluffball provided her with the solution.

Seraphina slowly nodded her head and went to check the rewards for Level Two. She was quite surprised by what she saw - 10 gold coins, a vial of Divine Green Elixir, and twenty plants of Eucalyptus trees and twenty plants of Oak trees.

Noticing the frown on Seraphina's face, the little creature decided to perform its duty and explained. "Those trees are probably related to next tasks for Level three. One drop of Divine Green Elixir will increase the level of the harvest. And those gold coins, you can use them to buy things from Afterlife Council."

"I need money to buy something from Afterlife Council? Don't they provide everything for free for the people here?" Seraphina questioned.

The little creature chuckled as if it was ridiculing Seraphina before it answered, "You really think you are that important for the Afterlife Council? Have you forgotten that in your case, the Afterlife Council is the employer and you are the employee. But in case of the rest of the city, the Shadow Lords are the employer and the Afterlife Council is the employee."

Seraphina let out a dejected sigh. The Afterlife Council was indeed treating her like their employee, or probably like an intern. As she reread through the content shown on the screen, a question suddenly popped in her brain. "Wait! Where I'm going to find seeds for the vegetables I'm supposed to grow?"

This time, even the little creature appeared a little taken aback as if it wasnt ready for that question. A moment or two later, it finally shrugged in response to the question. "That I don't know. The system hasn't offered the seeds, nor you have money to buy them from the Afterlife Council. You should better start thinking of some plan."

Before Seraphina could have said anything, the little creature suddenly disappeared from the room, leaving her alone to deal with the crisis. She did think for a while, but nothing came in her mind. Eventually, she gave up and decided to watch some videos about setting up a vegetable garden.

She wasn't sure how long she had spent watching those almost addictive videos before a knock on the door made her dismiss the screen.

"Come in." She told whoever was on the other side of the door, and watched as Mortimer stepped inside a moment later. The butler politely greeted her before he delivered an unexpected message.

"My Lady, Lord Kethan has asked for your presence."