Not noticing the Closed Dungeon closing the last time I was here, but noticing it this time, I watched the barely visible barrier surrounding the whole area begin to break apart; shattering into countless small hexagon-shaped sections, and dissipating into thin air right after. When I could no longer see the barrier, I completed my Quest.
Quest Completed Home Invasion has been completed. Reward: Gain access to the Homestead Menu, prevention from Dungeons forming nearby, and given an immediate 'Barrier Of Protection' for becoming 'The First Conqueror'.
“Wait, what just happened? Wasn’t I supposed to kill all the enemies? And what about needing to kill the Dungeon Boss?” I questioned, also getting another Title.
You have gained the Title: [The First Conqueror].
The First Conqueror: Being the first Player to conquer and claim a piece of land for yourself, you have exhibited a strength and ambition most do not possess, and have therefore increased your natural presence and influence because of it. +15 to All Stats.
I then noticed a new barrier beginning to build and form in the sky, and I figured it was the Barrier Of Protection from the Quest Reward. Turning my attention back to Goblex, I asked him “What'd you just do to the Dungeon?”
“My King, I simply gave up my Status as a Boss of the Dungeon and relinquished my ownership of it entirely, and I believe since no one else was fit to take my place, the Dungeon closed itself.” Goblex happily answered, kneeling down to me.
“I see…” Listening to him continue.
“Though it seems you alone are already causing another Dungeon to form in this place,” Pointing up to the barrier forming above us, “and I’ve never thought a Dungeon Keeper could be chosen so quickly, or even having a Dungeon forming around a single creature. You must truly be something else, Sire.” Goblex looked at me with a strange admiration.
“He thinks this place is a Dungeon?" Then my mind began to race with questions, "Also Dungeon Bosses can just give up being the Boss? And what’s this about a Dungeon Keeper? Is this all a special System for the Monsters or something?”
But interrupting my thoughts, Goblex held his hand across his heart, and asked “My King, will you accept my eternal pledge of loyalty to you now?”
Looking over Goblex, I gave it some thought, thinking “He’s a horrible and disgusting creature who I’m sure did a lot of the unforgivable things I saw the other goblins do from their eyes, and he probably deserves to die for all of it. But with that being said, I can’t deny the things I could learn from a Monster like him; from the information he could give me about the Dungeons, or about how the System affects him and the Monsters.” After giving it some thought, I said to him “Okay, I’ll give you a chance.”
“Oh, thank you—” I cut off his thanks.
“But if you ever, and I mean ever betray me, or if you fall back into your disgusting ways when you were alive, I’ll kill you on the spot.” Giving Goblex a death stare.
“I would expect nothing less, my King.” Then without warning, Goblex yelled out “Yessss! I’ve never felt so powerful, and it hasn’t even ended yet!”
Out of curiosity, I focused and saw his name as Lv.20 Ghost Goblex, and thought “Wasn’t he only Lv.15 when he was alive?” But along with his yelling, his level rapidly began to grow, and his name changed with it; now appearing as Lv.25 Goblex. Seeing that, I came to the conclusion that Goblex got stronger from becoming an undead like the other goblins did, but that the other 5 levels were from the crown affecting him for being loyal to me. “I never thought to check, but I wonder if Drune and Odelia’s levels also changed because of the crown.” Then thinking, “Though I don’t remember the Party ever leveling when they were affected by the crown, could it just be something that only happens to Monsters and Npcs that follow me?”
Overjoyed with his new strength, Goblex said “Sire, I feel as if I can accomplish anything right now, all I need now is your order.”
“Is that so?” Trying to come up with something, Goblex still having his eyes really stood out and bothered me. “I thought I collected those when I killed him?” So I decided to say to him “Goblex, don’t move, I still need to punish you for your past deeds before I can truly accept you as my servant.”
“Of course, Sire.” Goblex agreed, staying in place. “If this is what is needed to be forgiven and accepted as your servant, any punishment you choose I will gladly take.”
Kneeling down to his height, I grasped his ethereal head and it turned physical on my touch, and I asked “Now tell me, are you right-handed or left-handed?”
“Left-handed, why?” Goblex asked, confused by the question.
Without bothering to answer, I activated Seer’s Eye Collection and the light tendrils eagerly bursted from my eyes, scaring Goblex as I held his head still. Seeing how the tendrils were already moving to collect both the eyes, I focused intensely on Goblex’s right eye and willed them all to only go for the right one.
Acting scared, Goblex shakingly asked “W-What are you doing, Sire?”
“Your punishment, now be quiet and hold still.” Watching the tendrils start to wrap around Goblex’s right eye.
When the first siphoning pulse went off, Goblex immediately screamed out in pain, “Ahhh...It hurts so much! Ahhhh...” Though his screams quickly began to fade away from my ears, and I was suddenly brought back to the golden space of the Collection—the thoussands of eyes I collected now filling and floating all around the space. Afraid I would see more horrible memories again, I tried to escape and stop collecting Goblex's eye, but before I could, I was already thrusted into a memory.
“Goblex, you useless slave! Where are you!" A disembodied voice loudly echoed in my mind, "Hurry up, and keep bringing me the bodies!”
“Yes, Master!" I replied, in a much shorter body staring at a huge pile of dead bodies. "I’m picking one right now!” Then just choosing one of the many heavily armoured and bloody dwarven men, I began to slowly drag it through a dark narrow cave tunnel.
Arriving in a small carved out chamber, I saw a hooded figure standing over a magic circle with a different bloody dwarven man in the middle, and the figure said to me “Good, put him with the others, and bring me another!”
“Yes, Master.” I replied, dragging the body to a pile of 10 others near the magic circle. Then as I walked back towards the tunnel to get more bodies, I glanced back to see the magic circle begin to light up and glow with a purple coloured magic, and with it the body in the middle started to move.
Feeling another siphoning pulse, I found myself walking down a much wider cave tunnel than before, and I could see all along each side of the walls were armoured dwarven skeletons mining it out. While I continued down the tunnel and took the many maze-like turns it had, I passed by countless skeletal dwarves mining out the different sections, and they seemed to be making the tunnels a much more structured path.
Finally arriving in the same carved out chamber as before, I noticed it was twice as big now, and that there were even more dwarves continuing to make it bigger. I could also see there were now 10 magic circles surrounding the one circle from before—all linked together and having a body in each—and the one in the very middle had the hooded figure standing within it. The figure then slammed his hands down onto his circle, causing all the others to simultaneously light up, and shortly after all the bodies began to rise up—the magic rapidly tearing their flesh until they were only bones.
Waiting for the figure to give out orders to the recently risen dwarven skeleton, I then said “Master, the traps near the entrance of the Dungeon have been secured, they should prevent anyone from entering for a while.”
“Good, good.” The figure replied, “Now we simply need to increase our numbers and strength further to finally Level Up the Dungeon, then we no longer have to be concerned about their armies.” Again the siphoning pulse hit me, and again I was thrusted into a memory of the voice echoing in my mind.
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“Goblex!” The disemobied voice shouted in concern, “They’re going to destroy this body, but I will still live!” Then telling me, “As your Master, I order you to use the Greater Invisibility I placed onto you to return my crown to me at all cost.” With his order came an overwhelmingly painful compulsion in my chest, and I could see it was caused by some type of magic seal planted onto my chest. “I will resurrect in the Dunes of Sand and Snow in 7 days time, bring—” The voice was abruptly cut off, and rolling down to my feet was a horned skull with a unique looking crown that sat firmly atop of it.
The skull looked mostly ordinary, except for the horns it had on its temples that curled down and forward, the two prominent canine teeth, and the purple diamond-shaped gem embedded in its forehead. Then as the colour quickly faded from the gem, so did the purple essence that lit up its eyes and mouth, and when I was about to listen to my Master’s orders, I didn’t feel compelled to anymore.
“Now let’s hurry and search everywhere for the Phylactery!" A different rough sounding voice shouted, "We're this close to finally being able to put an end to this undead menace, and when we do, we'll be celeberated by all as Heroes!” Other voices loudly cheered those words on.
Panicking that they would find me, I still hastily grabbed the now familiar simple black band of the crown on the skull, and made my way through a hidden tunnel.
Returning back to the golden space of Collection, then a moment later back into my physical body, I couldn't help but think “What the hell was all that?” Seeing the tendrils retract from Goblex's now missing right eye, along with a few notifications.
You have collected the [Eye of a Ghost].
Eye of a Ghost: Searching for a way to find some sort of redemption or retribution after death, your eyes seek beyond the Ethereal and back into the Physical to look for one.
Eyes Of A Seer increased by 1 Level, and you now have vision of a Monster’s Menu. Seer’s Eye Collection increased by 1 Level. Seer’s Visions increased by 1 Level.
“A Monster’s Menu? What is this Subclass, it’s so weirdly useful and useless all at the same time, and does it just not have any Active Skill?” I wondered, trying to see Goblex’s Menu but to no effect. “Huh, is it cause he might not be classified as a Monster anymore?”
Goblex was still yelling in a panic, “Help, Sire! My eye, I can't see!” pleading at my feet.
“Guess I’ll try when I get the chance.” I thought to myself, deciding to deal with Goblex. “Stop yelling, you deserve at least that much for what you did." Reminding him, "Besides, you’re already dead, are you sure you're even hurt.”
Realizing that he hasn’t, Goblex calmed down, saying “Oh, I guess you’re right, Sire.” Picking himself off the ground.
Having no reason to reveal to Goblex what I saw in the Vision, I decided to keep it to myself for now, and asked him “Goblex, can you grab things in that form?”
“Only light things, my King.” He answered, informing me “Though I can turn corporeal for about an hour if need be, and it’ll be as if I were alive. Or I could even possess one of the many dead bodies if I must, and I would have full control over it for as long as their bodies hold up.”
“Perfect, then from now on you’ll be Castle Creedmor’s Keeper, Castle Keeper Goblex.” Coming up with the job after seeing the Vision and thinking he already has experience doing grunt work.
“Castle Keeper Goblex…I like the sound of that, my King.” I then saw his name changed once again, this time to Lv.25 Castle Keeper Goblex.
“Did I do that? Or did he?” I questioned, unsure why it changed.
Goblex bowed to me, and asked “What would you have me do as the Castle Keeper, my King?”
“Well, first I need you to collect all the arrows around the castle and bring them here to the courtyard. I don't want them to get damaged when you do the next thing.” I stated, pointing at all the arrows sticking out of the bodies.
“All of them?!” Goblex exclaimed.
“All of them.” I repeated, telling him “After that I need you to bring all the bodies and body parts around the castle here too. The last thing this castle needs is rotten corpses staining and stinking up the place.”
“All of them?!” Goblex exclaimed again.
“All of them.” I repeated again.
Letting out a sad sigh, Goblex answered “Yes, my King. Anything else?”
“Hmmm...that’s it for now.” Gesturing for him to start, I heard him muttering something about me not being much better than his last Master, and I teasingly said “What was that?”
“N-Nothing, my King! Oh look, another arrow!” Smirking as Goblex got to work, I took note of the timer again.
Virus Progress: 40.03% (14 Hrs, 39 Mins, 28 Secs)
“That should still be plenty of time for Odelia to get here, but now that the Dungeon’s clear, I better check if they actually found a cure yet.” Sending Mako a message.
Mako Nomura How’s the search for a cure going?
Waiting two minutes, she finally responded.
Mako- There was a bit of a problem when I found out there wasn’t a cure in town, or anyone who could make one.
Am I just dead then? Because if so, I'm coming straight to town to turn you all into zombies with me.
Mako- Haha, lucky for you and us there's another way. Odelia and Drune said we can cure you with the Cleanse Skill, but apparently it’s a really Rare Skill to have, and that most likely no one in town would have it.
“Cleanse? Dream knows that!” Messaging back.
Wait, I know someone who knows it! She might also be a little far away right now, but I’m sure if I message her right now, Odelia can bring her to me in time.
Mako- No need, I had an idea to ask the other Players, and eventually I got into contact with Global, you know the one who created the World Chat.
And?
Mako- I joined the World Chat and tried to ask around of course.
You didn’t find anyone?
Are you sure I shouldn't message my friend?
Mako- Relax, it’s all good. Global saw the messages of me needing to find someone who can use the Cleanse Skill, and she happily offered to help in exchange for info.
Info?
Mako- Yeah, she seems like the type that wants and needs to know everything, and she just asked a bunch of questions about why we needed the Skill.
What’d you tell her?
Mako- I told her what we needed it for, duh. But when she asked who specifically needed the help and I told her that you did, her eyes literally popped out of her head, and I could physically feel her thirst for you.
What? But I've never met her before? At least not to my memory.
Mako- Well she knows you, at least your name that is.
Must be the Rankings then.
So I'm guessing she decided to help?
Mako- More than help, she decided she had to meet you in person no matter what, and went with Lady Odelia to look for the Healer she knows who has the Skill. Though she did say the Healer was out of town, but they left hours ago, so they should be getting there soon.
Nice, that’s great news to hear.
Mako- Oh, and remember our deal.
Yeah, yeah, right after you told me about the Quest, I got it too.
Mako- Awesome, then let’s complete it when you’re better.
Sure, and thanks again.
Mako- Don't mention it, I'm sure you'd do the same for me.
Nope, I would definitely leave you on your own. Peace.
Mako- Okay you jerk, I'll just remember that when I make you armour.
Laughing a little at the message, I came to notice that Goblex was already done collecting all the arrows I used in the battle, the thousands of goblin arrows and quivers, and even brought the damaged and broken arrows; all of it being stacked in an enormous disorganized pile in the center of the courtyard. “Wow, good job! I didn’t expect you to be done already.” Complimenting him on his hard work.
“Thank you, Sire.” Goblex smiled at the compliment, “It was surprisingly easy when you can simply walk through the walls.”
“That’s great, now go bring me the bodies.” Goblex immediately got disheartened when I reminded him he still had to collect the bodies, and he let out another sigh before leaving to collect them.