Una’s words hit hardest on Damien. He froze in place hearing that they were going to hunt Articores after all. His first experience was still vivid in his memories. As though an event from yesterday. Damien stood there, even forgetting about Isha, only for a moment though.
“Damien, what’s gotten into you?” Isha asked, her curiosity piqued after seeing his disgruntled composure. He had only acted like this when she oppressed him. Yet the mere mention of these monsters called Articore had solicited the same behavior from him.
“Articores…” he replied to Isha, still in a daze.
“Yes, what about them?”
All looked at him in anticipation of his reply except for Una and Ghun. For those two already knew what was up with him.
Before Damien could fully compose himself and answer, Una took the lead and explained, “Articores are tricky to deal with. They hinder a person’s ability to think. Their mere presence exudes a mental oppression.”
“What is so special about the mental attacks, though? I have known and fought monsters with the same capabilities.” Yu asked while Isha had no clues about such monsters.
Ghun sat down and started rearranging his backpack as he answered, “It’s we -the humans- who make them so special. Humans are susceptible to their mere presence, lodged with their whisking movement with lith bodies; it makes Articores twice as powerful against humans than their effective levels.”
Both Isha and Yu’s attention was on Ghun’s explanation, while Christian kept staring at his action. Ghun was arranging his bombs made of Glass bulbs filled with alchemical substances. They had different colors, packed in straight files in his huge backpack.
To put final emphasis on Articores, Karo added, “In essence, even at lv40 they will be akin to lv80 for humans.”
“Our average level is 75. It’s a precarious raid we are planning.” Damien had his shoulders slouched more than usual, and Una had a scowl on her face because of them.
“Then why are we even risking this raid?” Christian said while raising his right hand. Now only did he realize others' unusual behavior for inviting him to the hunt. He was completely out of the place.
“Because we have Venerable Karo Shineridiculously with us.” Una’s tone felt like a ridicule, which was more obvious with her plastic smile.
Karo instead wholeheartedly took it as a compliment. He clapped, rubbed his hands, and said, “Oh! Is that so? Then, I guess, given my high level. We should at least go after level 60 Articores.”
“No, we are not going to.” Una immediately struck down Karo’s opinion. She flicked the spear and placed it on her back. She specifically chose level 40 Articores because she was confident in her party to defeat the monster even without Karo’s help. Even allowing him to go with them was a huge gamble.
Karo sighed at her distrust, “Ms. Una, I understand your concern, and I am not here with any ill will. At first, my sole purpose to intrude in your party was to be able to know more about Ms. Isha.”
Karo stated with an earnest expression on his face. His straightforwardness left everyone slack-jawed. While Isha instantly held Damine’s hand to hide her insecurities, doubling his shock.
He ignored her actions and continued, “After seeing you guys, I thought it would be fun to stick around as your party is lacking a healer.”
“DON’T LIE! You are a Swordmaster affiliated with the Kingdom. How can you be a healer?” Isha yelled, and a small vein almost popped on her head. Only Damine knew she was putting on a brave front, as he could feel her anxiety through her soft, sweating hand, which she was pressing to muster up the courage to talk back.
Damien took a step ahead to confront Kar, but the latter interrupted, “Having lived as long as I have, you get to learn and experience many professions. As a token of trust, I entrust Ms. Una and Mr. Ghun with these.”
Karo extended his right hand and called out the voice he had talked to earlier by its name, ‘Quro, synthesize two Pseudo-Life with these features- First: On death teleportation to the exact coordinates where the Pseudo-Life was consumed. Second: After teleportation, absolute immunity for 60 seconds. Would one-time use be enough?’
‘It’s more than enough. Too much may be. I don’t think you need to do all these while you yourself are present.’ Quro’s annoyed response came. ‘Do it,’ Karo snapped back mentally.
As Karo’s internal exchange of words ended, air, lightning, dust, moisture, and sparks swirled on Karo’s extended palm, and two ping-pong-sized marbles manifested on it.
It amazed everyone except Ghun. He had seen so many such phenomena while using alchemy. Christian was gobsmacked at the spectacle, and Isha was confused as she started doubting Karo’s identity.
“What are these?” Ghun and Una asked in unison after all the marble balls were for them.
“These little things are called Pseudo-Life, or you can call them Extras or Spares for a life. Have a look.” Karo passed them to Una and Ghun, one to each.
To Ghun and Una, who were NPCs who lacked Ulteria’s assistance, the balls were just what they were in appearance. They couldn’t tell what its function was and how to use them. The glass sphere was shimmering in white dim light periodically. Simultaneously, tiny sparkles orbited inside it towards the center.
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Ghun acted first and asked Isha, “Can you appraise this for me?” Isha took the marble and used her appraisal skill, and the info came to her within an instant. While she read, Karo kept smiling. Ghun and Una waited for the result.
[Pseudo-Life](Rating: Unique)
On death, resurrect the consumer at the location where it was consumed.
Upon resurrection gives absolute immunity for 60 seconds.
Usage:
Break it to consume.
Can only be consumed by Non-instanced entities.
One-time use only.
“How is this possible?” Isha mumbled in disbelief.
“What does it do?”
“It’s like a second chance at life for you natives. In simpler words, if a person consumes it and dies, they will resurrect at the location where they consumed this Pseudo-Life. It also gives 60 seconds of absolute immunity after resurrection.”
“Amazing…” Yu and Damien exclaimed.
“I don’t believe it,” Ghun shook his head in denial, but there was no shock on his face. Then he averted his attention from his backpack and explained, “Anything capable of doing such a thing would be locked in the Kingdom's treasury. Or already be consumed by essential figures such as yourself Venerable Karo, or the Royals.”
At his words, the Players in the party understood the severity of Karo’s claim. They might be immortal, but NPCs were alive, and at least for them, Ulteria was the real world. If they die, they remain dead. Nothing can bring them back unless they have set up measures already.
Ghun then faced Karo and said politely, “My friend, here’s some friendly advice for you. You should resort to good faith when wanting to be a member of a party.”
He then picked up his huge backpack which would put any tourister's bag to shame, “Since I don’t feel any ill intent from you I will not be against your participation in this raid.” Ghun paused for a moment as he glanced at his team before facing Karo again, he continued, “Although I don’t expect you to have my back. Yet I am sure that you will give it your all.”
“Thanks! Just consume that Pseudo-Life by breaking it. If it works how it is supposed to, it will save your life in the worst-case scenario.”
Again, Ghun didn’t sense any malice from Karo, so he gave a nod to Una and shattered the marble after taking it back from Isha. Una followed the same. The balls splintered into tiny particles, forming a mist bubble around both of them and then it got absorbed by their bodies.
Is it just all a game? Christian was still not convinced that this dream, or virtual reality or whatever it was, was to be a game. But then he just kept going along for Anne’s sake.
Once there were no objections, Una checked her party members and their equipment with a brief glance, then ordered, “Let’s head to the teleportation hall. I have booked a slot in advance.”
“Actually…” Karo spoke up yet again. He paused for Una’s annoyed look.
“What now?” her eyes staring daggers at the Swordmaster.
“I have a suggestion. As per our change of plans, to hunt lv60 Articores. I know of a specific vantage point in the southern Alka plains to scout out and lure them. If you all agree, then I could teleport us directly there. Since it will be a hassle to find a location for lv60s.”
“Teleport? You?” It was getting old, them being surprised. Karo didn’t wait for their approval.
“Yes.” Karo was about to snap his fingers to activate the teleportation, when Quro’s voice rang in his head, ‘Heads up, unlike instances(players), Base3(human) consciousness doesn’t sustain under Energy-Inversion matter reconstruction.’
He still snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He didn’t want Ghun and Una to drop dead as a symptom of his high-level teleportation method, so he canceled it midway.
Instead of being annoyed, he took it as an opportunity, ‘Project the spell matrix of tier 5 mass teleportation.’ he said to Quro.
A hexagon formation appeared on the ground along with the voice, ‘Why do you not perform magic yourself as well?' Visible and audible only to Karo. The formation comprised lots of intricate circles, squares, and lines.
‘I don’t want to raise suspicions by showing too much.’ Karo replied.
‘You should have considered it before concocting those Pseudo-Life.’ Karo ignored Quro and walked towards Isha.
Damien stepped between them. Karo stopped but ignored him nonetheless as he directly said to Isha, who was hiding behind Damien’s broad back. “Ms. Isha, I would need your help to fuel a teleportation formation I am about to create. As you are the only Mage in the party, I hope we can rely on you.”
Karo nodded at Damien as if appreciating his behavior to protect her, then turned around and unsheathed his sword. He focused on the digitized projection of the spell matrix and swung his sword from a low arc toward the sky.
Everyone held their breath. Despite Karo's weird behavior, Karo had already solidified his Venerable status in their understanding. Each of his actions till now only garnered their amazement. And it was the same for his last swing of the sword.
It sent a pressurized shockwave toward the sky vertically, but this wasn’t the amazing part. The shockwave was reflected back towards the ground after achieving a height of 20 meters. As if it had hit an invisible object at that height. Lastly, when the reflected shock wave struck the ground, it stirred up some dust which cleared in a matter of seconds.
The teleportation spell matrix(formation), which was only visible to Karo, had appeared for all to see, deeply carved in the pavements.
Everyone had a single thought, ‘Such a show-off!’ and Quro actually said it to him.
“Ms. Isha, if you please.” He prompted Isha.
Not wanting to indulge herself in any conversation with Karo, she injected her mana into the spell with a sudden burst. It lit up, and everyone vanished from that place.
There were a lot of onlookers, who were wondering how people could teleport from the outside of the teleportation hall. In just a few seconds, another event occurred to add to their musings.
The Bomber(Ghun), who had just vanished along with the group, teleported back to the exact location he was standing a few minutes ago, where he had picked up his backpack after arranging its stuff. The Bomber had a horrified expression as he snapped his hands to hold his head as if to catch it.