Aeron and Dravin exited the training hall before entering another. In this hall's center stood seventeen strange black doors in two circular formations. 10 doors outer circle and 7 doors inside circle.
Each door was identical to the next, distinguished only by a unique symbol at its center. The doors were not connected to the wall, suggesting that if someone opened the door and entered, they would simply come out of the other side…except this was not the case.
"These doors are called Ruin Doors, crafted using a Grade-5 mystic material and Spirit-Curse formation of some Grade-4 resources. Each one directly leads into a Dark Ruin's entrance under Star Horn guild."
Aeron was surprised.
"Ruin Doors are common in all seven Sanctuary Cities as every Guild uses them, but we still haven't succeeded in creating doors that can lead to normal places," Dravin wryly smiled. "For now, each one leads to a closed Dark Ruin, and in the closed Dark Ruin, you can only exit after finding its exit."
"In short, you have to venture inside, clear the Haunts, and continue until you find the exit point," Dravin said as he walked before a door with a strange starry tree symbol.
He opened the door, revealing a black liquid aura covering the door's space instead of showing the other side of the hall.
"Gotcha," Aeron nodded. 'Find exit point, eh?'
"The Dark Ruin recovers itself gradually in seven days and slightly changes every time. It's been more than seven days since we recruited someone, so this 3-star C-grade Dark Ruin is completely recovered," Dravin said with a smile.
[Oh yeah, there's a star-based assessment that determines a Dark Ruin's difficulty regarding that grade. 5-star meant toughest and 1-star meant weakest in that particular grade.]
Lapis informed.
Aeron nodded at Dravin as he walked before the open door, "I'm ready."
Dravin grinned, "Don't die. I like you, so you have to pass and join us."
Aeron laughed as he walked into the door, "I'm straight. But don't worry, I'll pass."
Dravin wryly smiled at that as he saw Aeron disappearing into the door's portal.
…
[Dark Ruin quests generating…]
Aeron heard a notification from Phantom Spark the moment he arrived in a cavern with glowing moss that illuminated the cave.
Aeron was surprised, "Dark Ruin quests?"
[Well, it's a good thing. If there are quests, then it means there will be rewards.] Lapis also didn't know anything about Phantom Spark, so she was also surprised.
"Mhm," Aeron nodded as he decided to wait until the quests were generated. The only exit from this cave was a single passage and it was right in front of him.
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The door that manifested here also vanished when he arrived, so there was no going back until he found the exit of this Dark Ruin, which would be at its end area where the ruler Haunt of this Dark Ruin resided.
[Quest generation completed.]
[Dark Ruin: Cursed Grotto of Generous Druid]
_Grade: C / 3-star.
_Quests:
—> 1. Find the hidden garden.
—> 2. Destroy Fountain of Life.
—> 3. Kill the Haunt: Rakka the Vital Simfon.
_Rewards:
—> 1. Mystic Pill crafting recipe: Starlife Pill
—> 2. Vigor Flame Refinement Art.
—> 3. The staff of Vervacity.
"Interesting," Aeron looked at the quests and rewards as he grinned. "These things sound like they will help me gain a name and foothold here faster."
Lapis nodded. [ I am most interested in the Pill. If its effects are good and desirable on a regular basis, we can sell it to a Guild and get percentage-based shares on its sale. ]
"Then let's get those rewards," Aeron widely smiled with excitement and eagerness as he walked towards the passage.
Entering inside, he walked for some tens of meters straight before following along with a curve to the left in the corridor. In the end, Aeron emerged from the passage into a huge cavern.
There was a green pond in the middle, with plants and trees growing here and there with stalagmites on the ground and stalactites above.
But aside from those, multiple pairs of red eyes were also present on the ceiling.
"It's a big party," Aeron looked up while using his Flamehunt Rambe ability, conjuring the FlameBow as he pulled the string and materialized the FlameArrow.
*Criiiiii*
A chaotic wave of sharp cries echoed in the cavern as around forty arm-sized giant bats with big fangs screamed and flew toward Aeron.
All of them were peak D-grade Haunts.
*Swoosh!*
Aeron released his first arrow, killing three bats at once.
'39 remaining. Using Flamehunt Rambe is overkilling and more time-consuming,' Aeron narrowed his eyes as he decided to change tactics.
Dashing to the side with 10 x Fortify, Aeron put away the FlameBow and wrapped his fists into intense flames by Transmuting 500 spirit energy as he arrived 15 meters away.
The bats arrived speedily again as they turned to him, screaming and spitting black acid substance.
But Aeron was ready.
'1000 curse energy to Enchant should be enough and then…Emit,' Aereon looked at the incoming bats and slammed his palms together before using Emission in front of him.
*Hrooo*
A burst of flame wave released forward in an arc shape, incinerating all incoming bats in front of him.
The firepower was still left so Aeron quickly manipulated the flames, even using hand motion for precise and better control as he condensed the flames into a sphere.
Only 13 bats were left and since they arrived in group again, Aeron hurled the Flame sphere towards them.
*Boom!*
A loud explosion rang, killing all the D-grade Haunts.
"Hahaha, this is fun," Aeron laughed as he dusted his clothes and looked at the shining materials.
Out of 39 Bats that he incinerated, 7 of them dropped their big shining fangs with dark green patterns.
[Acidic Bat Fangs]—Mystic resource.
_Grade: D
Of course, each bat also turned into a round core after dying so Aeron gained 39 D-grade Haunt cores as well.
After collecting everything, Aeron looked around the huge cavern. "If we want to find that Hidden Garden, we'll have to search this."
[Yep. Use Focus and check every spot.]
Aeron nodded as he had already infused some spirit and curse energy into his eyes to enhance his vision sense.
He walked to the west wall of the cavern and began looking for something secretive hidden behind. He could penetrate his spirit sense further to discover if there was something behind the walls, so this way of searching was best.
[It could be in another place as well, but we can't leave before at least checking out this cave.]
Aeron nodded. Ten minutes soon passed as he was almost done covering the whole cave's wall.
However, Aeron soon noticed and sensed a strange aura in his vision at the south part of the cave walls.
"There's something behind this wall, alright!" Aeron's eyes shone. "And…a strange aura too. Strange, but more powerful than that Samurai."
Lapis frowned. [Be careful, Aeron. That hidden garden could have a strong Haunt inside.]
"That's what I want," Aeron grinned and pulled his fist back before throwing a punch at the wall.
*Crack*