Julie was delighted to witness Paladin Blue’s immense effort to actually reach the foot of the mountain.
She was very confident of him after yesterday's record and today he didn't disappoint her expectations. At noon he had reached the hundred and eighth step and successfully arrived at the foot of the Mountain of Triumph.
She was observing his status window from the start and now at the end of the training it had progressed to this point,
[Social Information:
Name - Blue
Age - 18
Class - Blight Paladin (Level 14)
Identity - Outer Player Academy Student
Student Ranking - 4th (1st Year)
Student Quarters Placing - Cloud House 4
Academy Points - 610
Contact Number - 9876ABYZ54321
Base Stats: 108
Strength 20
Constitution 16
Dexterity 16
Intelligence 18
Wisdom 20
Charisma 18
Attribute Comprehension:
Adept stage early phase
Class Skill Proficiency:
Average stage peak phase
Main Weapon Mastery:
Subconscious Expertise stage peak phase
Inventory: 1m²
Bident, cure panaceas, restoration elixirs, health potions, stamina potions, paper bags, shovel…
Achievement:
None
Quest:
Compulsory - None
Voluntary - None]
She was greatly pleased with this much progress in just three days, no, actually less than three days. It seemed that giving him panaceas had further proved to be the right choice.
She went to him and congratulated before deciding to give him the precious reward since he had performed perfectly,
“Student Blue, you have managed to exceed my expectations. To think you will reach the final step as early as noon. I am very happy with your performance.”
He took a deep look at the red crystal mountain, a goal he had been striving to reach so hard, before he replied to her,
“It is all because of your care and guidance. If not for it then even if I had a month I wouldn't have been able to reach here.”
“Nonsense! With your potential I am sure you would have done excellent regardless. Now, it is time for a good reward for such a hardworking Paladin.”
“Lady Auburn, I have already received so much from you. I am afraid that if I only keep receiving more then one day I would start taking it for granted.”
“Well, if you keep saying such things then wouldn't it make me want to give you more!? A senior player like me looking after a young man of your bearings is a matter of course. So be obedient and keep being spoiled, hahaha.”
She laughed contentedly as she rubbed his long silky hair in endearment. This young Paladin was truly a nice person who appreciated others' kindness. With such personality her decision to give him this reward seemed more and more accurate.
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“Do you know that in order to graduate successfully you absolutely need to become an inner denizen?”
“Eh? I didn't, Lady Auburn. I only knew that five thousand academy points or player level 20 was the requirement to graduate within five years. Though I do remember one of the teachers mentioning how it involves becoming an inner denizen but till now I thought that it was just one of the options.”
“Emphasis is on the word ‘successfully’. Yes, you can graduate with the other two requirements as long as one is fulfilled. However, there's more to it.”
She then explained to him about the final exam a student had to take when they filled one of the two requirements and the matters regarding the Inner Area trial.
His face was struck with realization after her explanation and he nodded in understanding before asking,
“I wonder why Lady Auburn mentioned this now? Could the reward involve this Inner Area trial?”
“That's correct. As a newbie player as well as a new inner denizen, having successfully graduated from the academy, you will naturally have to join a faction in the Inner Area to be able to earn a livelihood or just to fend for yourself. Upon passing the Inner Area trial there will be many offers from those factions thanks to the academy's advertisement of your capabilities. By the way, here your personal teacher comes into play.”
“For you, teacher Nicole's faction will get the priority of recruitment and other factions could only approach you with a new recruitment offer after a month had passed. During that month you will get into an internship within the faction and learn from them the ins and outs but if it wasn't to your liking then those new offers would be available for your choice.”
“Unsurprisingly, more than 90% graduates choose to stay within the first faction they ever became a part of in the Inner Area. After all, some friendship and bonds were bound to form during that time as the faction was bent on keeping you.”
She then suddenly looked at him deeply and stopped explaining as she smiled mischievously before finally continuing,
“However, the reward I am giving you, if you accept it, then you don't need to go through these hardships and on top of that it is precious enough to make those factions filled with envy…”
Julie then gave him the precious reward, an offer in actuality, which she was confident that he would be glad to accept after all those explanations.
°°°°
Blue finally reached the foot of that mountain and looked around discreetly as he wanted to see just what fortuitous encounter lay here.
He however didn't find anything noteworthy from the initial investigation so before Julie decides to come over to him he did an appraisal of his perception, which was the crystal mountain, just so he could get the system involved in this search.
The situation now was a bit similar to when he first went to the Beast Racing club but only to find a fortuitous encounter, an aether embryo of a bicorn, hidden away in an inconspicuous location. Though there was no mission from the system, his Premonition innate ability held as much significance to him as the system, actually far more because it was with him since his birth.
This got him thinking that the academy was filled with fortuitous encounters as long as one knew where to look for. This thought of his ended up proving accurate as the system went,
Ding!
[A side mission has been generated. Please check the Mission menu]
He was actually shocked to have gotten a side mission out of nowhere. Mind you that this lecher of a system only had targeted women till now but now it targeted something else instead. Turns out it wasn't all about sex and such.
Ding!
[Mission]
[Current Main Mission: 1
(Sow And Plunder)
Ongoing Side Mission: 2
(Luna The Reincarnator)
(Daemonic Cult Traces)
Completed Main Mission: 1
Completed Side Mission: 4]
He was further shocked by the name of this new mission so he hurriedly checked as he sensed Julie slowly walking towards him from behind.
Ding!
[Side Mission (Daemonic Cult Traces) -
Summary: A special facility of the academy, Mountain of Triumph, has the traces of Daemonic Cult in its craftsmanship. There are hidden mechanisms within the core structure that seemed to have been put in place for a whole different purpose than what the academy ever thought of.
Mission: Get to those hidden mechanisms, investigate the matter and find out the purpose behind it.
Time Limit: Before Inner Area trial.
Restriction: None.
Reward: A new menu unlocks]
It took a great internal effort to hide the gleeful grin that almost formed on his face. This matter was indeed a great fortuitous encounter for him.
Who was the Daemonic Cult?
It is obviously a faction that antagonizes the player civilization by remaining within itself. They were formed by the players who were either corrupted by abyss spawns or had wholeheartedly considered the Abyss as their master.
Many abyss spawns have their own cults but they were all generalized as the Daemonic Cult by the player civilization. In his past life, he also had his own cult festering within the Jester's Domain. As a matter of fact all the powerhouses had such arrangements throughout the four cosmic empires.
Truly a calamity of the void!
Players called the abyss spawns Daemons and obviously anything related to the Abyss and its race was considered Daemonic to them. Including this cult that was formed through many epochs of efforts and manipulation by the entire abyss spawn race.
Who was Blue? An awakened human?
What nonsense! He was an abyss spawn from the very beginning. Now that he had finally found a link to the Abyss then how could he not be gleeful about it. Such a fortuitous encounter was indeed worthy of this system’s reaction to it.
“Such a thing is actually hidden in plain sight from all these high leveled players? I truly wonder which powerhouse had planned and sponsored it? It must have taken an enormous amount of manpower and resources to get it done. Maybe it was one of the powerhouses I am acquainted with? Oh, wait! Now that it's Parallel Void even their identities are all messed up. Tsk! Tsk!”
He inwardly clicked his tongue in annoyance as he got congratulated by Julie for reaching the goal.