His eyes glimmered as he glanced at the mountain of treasures. Most of the treasure mountain was made of ores, but Zayn recognized them. They were fairly valuable and could be crafted into high-ranked Ranked Armaments.
Ranked Armaments could be found in the treasure mountain as well. Some Ranked Armaments attracted his attention, mostly because he thought his Spirit Souls could use them. Zayn was still satisfied with his weapons.
There wasn’t much more than the ores and Ranked Armaments. The Spirit Souls found useful blacksmithing tools and all necessary materials to supply the smithy. The last item was a bundle of three Cards.
Condition Removal – Rare
A Card sought after by many Card Users.
Condition Removal can remove one upgrade/evolution requirement of a MAX Level Uncommon Card.
All upgrade/evolution requirements will be removed if applied on a MAX Level Common Card.
Condition Removal was better than most treasures. It was an incredibly rare drop that could only be found in dungeons, or so he thought.
‘I guess Forgotten Lands considered the Goblin Lair as an instance dungeon or created rewards of the same level if cleared fast enough.’ Zayn thought the corner of his lips curled into a vibrant smile.
He considered using one of the Condition Removal Cards on the Aegis Natura Card but stopped mid-way. He blocked his intrusive thoughts and shook his head.
‘Aegis Natura already has two unlocked upgrade requirements. Using one of the Condition Removal Cards on it is a waste. The Condition Removal Cards will be better off being used to upgrade Blink once it reaches the level cap.’
Zayn continued smiling as he packed up. He considered returning to the Goblin Lair for the ore deposits, but that could wait a bit. He spent too much time in Forgotten Lands and the Goblin Lair. The Gaming Pod would throw him out soon, and he didn’t really want to log out in a highly active spawn point.
He called the remaining Spirit Souls to him and dispersed them one after another – which was Zayn’s way of saying that he used their Souls to nourish the Lord Rune.
Zayn didn’t spare many Spirit Souls. The only batch he spared were the Hellhound since he needed a mount to bring him back to the sentient volcano and the five Spirit Souls he would store in the Empty Spirit Cards.
Zayn knew he could break a Return Token to get back to Spyro instantaneously, but Zayn wanted to use the opportunity to travel back to clear his mind. There…was a lot to unload. His mind was filled to the brim, and the Heart Deck’s advancement to Tier-2 didn’t make that easier. If anything, advancing to Tier-2 without a mission confused Zayn the most – in addition to the massive amount of information and memories which must have gotten unlocked after advancing to Tier-2.
One way or another, the Spirit Souls, who would continue journeying with Zayn, were the strongest. They were probably stronger than most Forgotten Lands Players. He stored the Spirit Souls in the Empty Spirit Cards and smiled from one ear to the other as the Spirit Souls’ information appeared on the Cards.
Spirit Soul — Magma Goblin Champion – 1101/1824 (Expand)
Spirit Soul – Magma Goblin Champion — 1278/1789 (Expand)
Spirit Soul — Magma Goblin Shaman – 1500/2069 (Expand)
Spirit Soul – Magma Goblin Pyromancer – 1094/1483 (Expand)
Spirit Soul – Magma Goblin Pyromancer – 1101/1499 (Expand)
Each of his Spirit Souls was powerful. However, combined with Zayn’s combat prowess, the Lord Rune, and his Cards to augment their power, they transformed into terrifying monsters. That was exactly what Zayn needed.
The Magma Goblin Shaman was on the verge of advancing to Tier-2. If its Foundation were one more unit higher, it would have been advanced to a Tier-2 Raid Boss. The quality of the monster’s Foundation Stars would have improved drastically, and it would have gotten access to more – and stronger – spells. It was highly likely that Zayn would have died much earlier if the Goblin Shaman had been a Tier-2 Raid Boss all along.
But that wasn’t the case. There was no need to think too much about what would have been if. The if never happened, so be it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Once he was packed up, Zayn patted the Hellhound and got onto its back. He willed the Hellhound Spirit to bring him outside the Goblin Lair and return to the sentient volcano.
Right after issuing the mental command, Zany drifted deep into thought.
Memories of the Primal Soul Lord and his knowledge flooded his mind. He didn’t think too much about it before, but now that his mind wasn’t occupied with fighting, Zayn found himself drowning in the mess of the Primal Soul Lord’s knowledge. It mixed with everything Zayn had learned in both cycles of his life and the things he thought he had known about the Primal Soul Lord, the Primordial Pantheon, and the gods.
Organizing and separating the memories from his memories wasn’t difficult, but it wasn’t straightforward either. Zayn was also struggling with the newly acquired knowledge. It contradicted what he’d known about the gods, Earth, their history, and how they connected.
“What a mess,” He cursed to himself as he sorted everything. It was going to take a while to make sense of everything. Unfortunately, Zayn arrived at the sentient volcano much earlier than expected.
The Hellhound howled as they arrived. Zayn felt a pull in his Soul, but he ignored it. He jumped from the Hellhound’s back and stared at the creature awhile.
“You did a great job. Thanks for your service,” Zayn said, smiling wryly as he allowed the Hellhound Spirit to disperse.
The Hellhound howled with the last bits of Soul Power residing in its body like it was thanking Zayn, before dispersing into tens of thousands of tiny golden particles.
Zayn stared at the particles for a while. He took a deep breath and looked at the spotless sky. The sun burned fiercely in the Magma Prairie, but Zayn barely noticed anything. His head hammered wildly as if someone had hit the back of his head with a massive Warhammer.
“I swear… if you don’t give me any intel about World Bridge and Dimensional Anchors…” Zayn grumbled quietly as if hoping that the Primal Soul Lord could hear him in the afterlife, if something like that existed in the first place.
‘Well, his memories and knowledge will be helpful either way. It will help me grow stronger.’
Zayn entered the sentient volcano the same way he entered the first time. He returned to Spyro much stronger than before. However, he would be even busier now that he’d returned with the necessary strength to accomplish certain tasks. His Foundation was far above the average of most Players at this point. Zayn was certain that it would take the Elite another month to acquire their advancement mission and another month or two to advance to Tier-2.
He recalled that only a few Players had ascended to Tier-2 before Forgotten Lands disappeared, the game replacing reality.
Fact was, Zayn was at the peak of the peak. Nobody’s Heart Deck should be at Tier-2 yet.
That gave him enough leeway to do things he didn’t consider beforehand. After all, Zayn couldn’t imagine acquiring the means to try them, let alone that he would have enough time for a proper attempt.
That was nice.
**
Zayn worked tirelessly for the next two weeks. He didn’t get any proper rest because he was always doing something. When Zayn was asleep, he was in Forgotten Lands, organizing the memories and knowledge of the Primal Soul Lord, finishing all work around Golden Age’s Guildhouse, expanding the guild through various open applications, and by hunting powerful monsters to acquire more Soul Essences and to bring a create a more versatile team of Spirit Souls.
Two weeks passed, and Zayn was beyond exhausted. However, he was glad as well. The first batch of Golden Age members moved to the Workshop in his city. They got a room, high-quality meals adjusted to their customized diet, and an average-quality Gaming Pod to play with. It was no wonder, but the improvement in their living quality and then the change to a proper Gaming Pod drastically changed their playstyle. The members of the Golden Age were growing in number and power.
Zayn’s family was doing fine as well. His mother was still around Old Farthma, but they moved to Spyro, where Zayn constructed an Alchemist Tower for them and the other Alchemists of the Golden Age. It was a little difficult to bring Old Farthma to Spyro, but Zayn’s mother was much better at pleading than he – or anyone else – could have fathomed.
14 days of tireless work didn’t pass fruitlessly. Zayn’s bank account was filled to the brim once again. To be precise, Zayn managed to pay back the credit he’d obtained from Millenia. That was much faster than expected, but it was still too slow. Since Zayn advanced to Tier-2, he has gotten more restless. Now that he had the means to actually achieve them, he wanted to finish more tasks before Forgotten Lands would close.
His earnings through the Dragon Lair Gym, the goods sold to Millenia, the dozens of Guides that continued earning decent money, and all videos were still high. It didn’t look like he was going to earn any less. In fact, given the income they started making after returning to the Goblin Lair to claim the ore deposits, their income was bound to increase.
That meant Zayn could invest more money into his projects, which was exactly what he did.
Over the last two weeks, Zayn managed to kill a bunch of Tier-2 Raid Bosses thanks to his amazing Class Path, Spirit Souls, and the Primal Soul Lord’s knowledge. Of course, that was not all, but it was a significant part of why he slayed the Raid Bosses. The rest was Zayn’s tactical understanding and the ease with which he commanded the Spirit Souls alongside Tier-2 poison, grenades, and other explosives, including sticky Molotovs and other magnificent tools, which made Zayn’s life much easier.
The goods were expensive, but the rewards were new and stronger, with Spirit Souls, Soul Essences, and a bunch of useful cards.
These rewards pulled him closer to the next greater goal on his updated to-do list.