[p=center]Through many battles, I was able to save lives.
At the same time, I took so many lives.
Each time my emotions dulled.
Each time my humanity waned.
The one who awoke after all of that, was that really me?[/p]
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“Please help us get these supplies to the village nearby!” A man in his late thirties or early forties bowed and begged Eden, Alexandra and Viv to accept the quest.
While these quests were normally done by other players and usually were flooded due to the good pay and the chance it would have no combat which means free experience and money; there weren't any players that were trying to get the quest. In fact it seemed that it was the sheer opposite with players trying to avoid the quest instead.
Eden looked unsettled since this place was near one of the restricted zones and high a number of high levelled players in this small town. However even these battle veterans were scared of this quest. On the other hand, Alexandra not feeling the mood here and the fact that the quest would be more troublesome than ever, accepted the quest.
“Of course! A simple protection quest is perfectly fine for us!” she exclaimed in confidences.
“Wait a min-”
Party leader Alexandra has accepted the quest 'Guard the Merchant and Supplies'
Party leader Alexandra has accepted the quest on your behalf as well
“God dammit! I should never let her be the party leader...” Eden sighed since this was going to bring something horrible to them later on.
“Don't worry. We're strong” said Viv patting his back.
“That's not the problem...we came here for sightseeing so why are we accepting such a quest. Speaking of which, where is this village?” asked Eden.
The old man, who was also a merchant said grimly:
“In the Restricted Zone called the Cursed Forest.”
(Note that I have no idea what the other 8 restricted zones are besides the two that are mentioned in the LN. Makings things up here...)
Eden's face fell hearing this. The 'Cursed Forest' was a horrible place that was completely covered in trees in which for each step you walk closer to the core, the stronger than curses that would be placed on you get. Needless to say that all the monsters in that place are cursed creatures capable of spreading their curse onto you whether via a skill, attack or even dying.
It was a place that you would not want to go into even with a couple of priests. It was said that an army with a hundred priests died in a single day stepping into that place due to the ridiculous number of curses thrown their way.
But Alexandra did mind and besides the three of them have some curse resistant effects on them as well as Alexandra who was the combination of a strong paladin and priest combined. Eden recalled that she learnt some curse resistance and curse removal spells before heading here with them.
The occupation relating to Gods were quite powerful especially for Alexandra. She with so little effort managed to get skills and spell that others struggled to get for months or years.
“Anyway, where are the stuff you want us to bring?” Seeing that they were going into the Cursed Forest, taking small amounts of supplies was about as much as they could do with.
The merchant scurried and called out to his fellow merchants.
“Oi! Bring out the carriages!” he shouted.
Click Click Click
The sound of something being dragged could be heard and as Eden saw what he would be protecting, he face palmed.
“Three whole carriages of supplies?! Are you kidding me?! Is there even a path for us to move those on?” shouted Eden in frustration. While he could wipe out an army with several large spells, protecting was not something he specialised in.
In fact, other than himself, he was quite bad at protecting others besides using a simple mana shield to block any blows that may come to them. However Eden calmed down and thought about it. Aside from him was Alexandra who was a super tank capable of blowing away enemies and protecting allies at the same time.
Then there was Viv. His roots could easily protect everyone without anything bad happening to them. That was how much power he processed to begin with and plus he has that giant golem of his and other spells to back him out as well. This couldn't be that bad with those two.
“Ah by the way Eden. Due to the effects of the Cursed Forest, all light based and nature based skills and spells are rendered a lot weaker than they usually are. This means-”
Eden thought that she had to be kidding.
“-We will be relying on you to pull us through.”
“....”
“You got to be kidding” muttered Eden.
“I am not kidding at all. Why do you think we are using you right now?” replied Alexandra.
'As a meat shield more or less.'
“Anyway there should be a proper path that we can take since this quest is only B rank after all.”
“B rank...”
Something of that rank was surely difficult as it is. Most people often fail C rank quests and the failure rate increases several fold for B rank quests. A rank and above are nearly impossible to beat on your own or even with a large guild to back you up. Though this was coming from a person who completed a SSS rank quest.
Eden pressed his finger on the rim of his nose and asked, “Please tell me that there are other people coming as well....I don't want to face a restricted zone alone....”
The merchant who was the quest giver came into the conversation at this point, “Of course! There will be a couple of bards coming along as well.”
“Bards....”
'You mean that class that can't directly block attacks and can only support the party?'
Eden sighed hearing that he would really be forced as the primary defence on this quest that he didn't even want to be on right now. Eventually things were going and they were introduced to five bards. Three girls, two guys.
“This is Alina, Robe, Minra, Saku and Haku” the merchant introduced.
The person who seemed to be the most leader like, Alina introduced their levels as well:
“I'm level 461, Robe is level 455, Minra is level 305, Saku and Haku are both level 375.”
Alina was a short blonde petite person. Robe was a tall red haired muscle man. Minra was a brown haired girl with nothing much on her appearance. Saku was a girl with black hair and looked asian. Haku was the same but a guy with short hair.
As for their instruments....Eden did not even check since he really didn't want to bother with that.
“I'm the current leader of this group, Alexandra, level 654. Viv is this one here at level 640 and that grumpy one over there is Eden at level 666~” she said in a pleasant tune on her own as she spoke. Right there, Eden cut in kinda impatient to find out about things when they got into the actual Cursed Forest itself.
“So high” exclaimed Minra hearing of our level.
The merchant laughed hearing our level as well saying, “If it's you guys then this will definitely succeed.”
Alexandra faked her shy look and replied, “No no, my and Viv's abilities are reduced in the forest and Eden over there is the lazy type. This will be more difficult than you think” 'Since Eden is on this quest, there's bound to be trouble.'
Glaring a bit at Alexandra due to reading her mind on the words she didn't say, Eden gave an opposing presence and said:
“First of all, I want to know how effective your skills are in that forest? I don't want to expect you to buff me a certain way and it not working.”
The one called Alina smiled and said, “Of course. Two of us specialise in stat boosting while the other three are of status boosting or status debuff removal. All of us can lift the curses of the forest to a certain extent.”
“Okay then.”
Eden nodded and looked at Alexandra and Viv.
“How much of your abilities are reduced in there?”
“About 50%” “Around 70%”
They both answered at the same time but Alexandra's holy spells were now half as effective and Viv's nature magic was even worse off. Eden at least knew that they were capable of doing things and now were not able to dumb everything on him now. Even with their powers reduced by that much, they were still pretty powerful nevertheless.
With this the merchant clapped his hands and said, “Right, let us embark now. The one who ordered this is very important after all.”
“....”
Eden wondered who could it be since they are in the Cursed Forest after all. A place filled with monster at least level 500 as the general mobs.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“More Cursed Wolves coming this way!” shouted Saku to everyone else as the lookout. Saku was an interesting Bard with her primary skill, 'Sonic Sensing' serving as a sensor to all enemies coming near. It was such an interesting ability that Eden would want to later copy it into his own skill.
As it seemed, there was an actual path that they could drive the carriages through. However it was thin to the point that the carriages barely fit on them resulting in everyone else riding on top or walking through the trees to the side. Naturally the group; Eden, Alexandra, Viv as well as the five bards and 6 merchants and drivers chose the first option.
With two drivers each, Alexandra was the front guard, Viv was the middle guard and Eden was the back guard. There was three bards on the middle carriage and one each on the front and back one. Eden was stuck with the bard called Minra with the brown hair.
Eden could hear Viv ask, “Which direction” in which Saku responsed to, “The back again.”
“....”
Hearing this, Eden sighed and got ready to fire at them again.
Using 'Soul Scan' which was actually a more effective way of sensing living creatures though not as when it came to mechanical creatures like Golems and the such, Eden found that there were six of them this time. A fairly medium sized pack.
Cursed Wolves were as their name. Wolves that were cursed. While the same size as normal wolves, they are large patches of black stuff on them which was the cursed bits. It usually took up half their body and black stuff which could curse you on contact spilled out from there. Other than that, their bites caused curses as well which was something to watch out with.
From what Minra told him, they generally gave three effects. Blindness, Fatigue and rarely though dangerously paralyse.
Eden waited a bit for them to appear and then set up some spells to deal with them.
“Wind Cutter.”
Several blades of wind flew from Eden cutting off the wolves that just appeared into pieces. They were all killed just like that.
“As expected from such a high levelled player!” exclaimed Minra, “Though...isn't there another spell you could use?” she asked.
Eden looked at Minra which caused her to shyly look away a bit and said, “In this place unless you want to attract more monster than you want, less flashy and smaller attacks are better. If I used fire, lightning or ice magic; it would leave a trace for more monster to track us down via the explosions or loud noises or even the movement of the trees. Plus this place as a debuff for earth magic as well so I can't use that. Other than that, it's a pain to use serious attacks on them as well when they're only level 500 at most.”
“R-right.”
With that done, Eden leaned back on the crates that the carriage he was currently on had. However Minra decided to want to talk to him some more.
“Say...why don't you use a staff when you're a mage?”
“....”
Responding to that question since he really had nothing else to do; it was a three day trip for the quest and he wanted to relax as much as possible, Eden lifted his left hand showing his rings. TO be precise the one on his left pinky.
“This ring is called...I think it was 'Ring of Absolute Domination; or something like that. It gives more or less the same effect as using a staff without breaking when I try to use more mana in my spells.”
“More mana?”
“Ah, you haven't heard of the concept of overcharging spells to make it more powerful?”
“Yes...but isn't that inefficient to use? I haven't heard of anyone using it like that...though there are some priests and even bards that do the same with their spells to increase the effect or duration sometimes.”
“Well the only ones who use such a method are the ones with mana to spare...and lots of spare mana to use like me. By the way, what kind of 'songs' can you use?” asked Eden.
Minra looked flustered and said in a fragmented voice:
“Umm...ah...I actually am the attack type. I use my 'songs' to deal damage or status effects on enemies. Not very useful....so that's why my level is....”
Eden watched as Minra descended into depression within seconds and sighed. Eden felt that it was a good idea to at least encourage her since her style of fighting seemed interesting at least.
“You know...classes and generally unique ways of fighting are weaker than most at the beginning...but later on, as your abilities expand even more, they will become extremely powerful in the end. My magic you see...while costing more mana in general, I can actually blow a large area with little mana compared to other mages. Because of this, along with Alexandra and Viv; we can face pretty powerful creatures on our own without a strong guild behind us.”
“....”
“I can imagine that when you get some good mana regenerative skills as well as quick casting ones, you could stack multiple debuffs like blindness, weaken and slow on rapidly on enemies to the point that they are extremely weak to face. Naturally you would have to focus on skill proficiency no matter what but being a generic character might ensure safety to a certain extend but will limit what you can do in the end.”
“So...”
Minra looked at Eden.
“I could become as strong as you then?”
Eden saw that her eyes were quite innocent...unlike himself in the end. His innocent died a long time ago with any hope of becoming normal again. He was truly a monster that his level could not capture. A cheat character you could say. But...how to explain that to Minra?
“Hmm....” Eden gave her a wry smile in the end and said, “You would have to suffer as much as me though....and I don't think many people could endure that.”
“How so?” pouted Minra feeling that Eden was insulting her.
Eden still smiling took out a knife and cut his arm in front of Minra.
“What are yo-”
“Watch.”
Within a second, the wound disappeared and all that was left was the blood that was spilt out. He then made a bigger wound then before and even that healed within the same time.
“This skill which causes this is called 'Recovery Burst', probably one of the most powerful wound healing skills out there though it doesn't restore lost health at all” Eden gave a sad smile since this was one of the gifts llyfr left him.
“Of course this kinda of effect only appears when you are in the advance level of the skill. Beginner and Intermediate with simply make your wounds disappear faster. With the advance level, it will look like the wound heals instantaneously. How long did you think it took me to get the skill to this level? Mind you that I need to be hurt quite bad for the skill to rapidly gain experience.”
“Umm....few years...?” Minra thought along the lines of how much Eden probably fought and his level.
“One week.”
“Huh?”
Minra was not pleasantly surprise but rather insulted now.
“But for every second of that week, I was awake and wounds would constantly appear all over my body like it was ripping me apart. The faster the skill grew, the shorter time it took to heal and the shorter the time of the wounds appearing at the same time. The pain caused me to go insane and sane over and over again until it finally ended and was like this. Even if my limbs are cut off, I can grow a new one. If my body is torn to pieces, I'll recover easily. That is what I mean by the suffering I endured.”
“....”
Minra looked down a bit disappointed on her own selfishness. She had expected that Eden had some skill that allowed him to quickly gain and master other skills to get where he was now. In reality, Eden endured so many things that it led to him being strong. However she was indeed right that Eden had a method to decrease the time it took to master skills though only Alexandra and Viv knew of it.
“Don't worry...that was one of the more extreme examples. There were also loads of times when I stayed up too late practising magic. You should when you can practise as much as possible all the time. Your skills will level up steadily even if you aren't using them that much.”
“I see...can we talk more on other things as well? While we're on rear guard duty?”
Minra looked quite enthusiastic now. Eden continued to talk to her for the remainder of the day.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“Ah, Eden light the fire.”
“Right....spark?”
From Eden's hands a large number of sparks came out of it. The wood that he touched went up in flames immediately as well as Eden pulled his hand away quickly. Seeing this, he sighed since he really needed to get a proper fire starting skill.
There was a 50% chance that he would burn down this forest while trying to lit a small fire. Eden must admit that he had....control issue in using small magicks. But he couldn't fail now nor complain in front of other people.
Moving along to sit leaning on a tree a bit further away from the fire, Alexandra approached him with a small bit of mischief on her smile.
“Looks like you were getting on really well with that Minra girl~”
“What about it? She wouldn't shut up and I had nothing else to do...”
“But it's still rare for you to put up with it and actually talk about yourself.”
“You were listening in?”
“Well the forest is quiet so someone with good hearing can earsdrop.”
“....That isn't a good habit you know. Plus how come there were only small fries attacking us today? I mean they were level 500 creatures but were weak in general for this area...”
“I guess we will find out tomorrow.”
“Great, a giant monster will come and kill us then” sighed Eden making Alexandra giggle a bit.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“You got to be fucking kidding me.”
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRR!!!”
A large monster made of the roots and other stuff like the cursed trees gathered and turned into the shape of a 20 metre large dragon. Well in the shape since it wasn't actually a dragon.
“Dragon Dragon!” cried Minra in fear.
Eden comforted her and said, “Don't worry, that thing really isn't a dragon. It just took on the form to boost it's power.”
Yes, constantly shaping itself using anything in this cursed land, that creature that Eden was staring at was turning closer into the form of a true dragon. If it finished then could it fly or even use 'Dragon Breath' as well?
Eden really didn't want to find out.
“Hey, speed up! At this rate, we have to fight that thing!” shouted Eden to the front carriage.
The old merchant shouted back, “The bulls cannot go that fast with this amount of luggage! You will have to deal with it someway or another!”
“Tch.”
Eden shot a dissatisfied look. Even now, facing a Dragon was something extremely difficult. The common fodder ones were around level 300 at least while the ones that most people struggle to face were around level 400 at least. The truly strong ones were above level 600 however and should not be messed with.
Even if this was a fake one, it was still formed in this Cursed Forest.
Even if it is not real, it could have powers on the same level as a real one.
Because of this and he was the rear guard, he had to deal with it now.
“No choice....Minra, get on the carriage that has Viv and the others on it and tell one or more of them to come here” ordered Eden looking serious.
“Huh? Why?” asked Minra in a surprised tone.
“Simply because I will catch up later. I can more or less tell where Alexandra and Viv are most of the time so....”
With those last words, Eden jumped off the carriage without hesitation. With his one foot on the ground, he pushed off it and sped up to the creature that was now 21 metres large. It was slowly gaining power from this cursed place and quickly as well. Eden had to take it down quickly.
“Dragonic Release!”
Dragonic Release is now active, time remaining 12 hours
With this, Eden's body became stronger and faster as he leaped and swung off branches and into the sky freely.
“Flight Magic!”
Six golden wings immediately erupted from Eden's back and sustained him in the air as he quickly approached the monster that was taking on the form of a dragon to merely face against a bunch of carriages and the supplies that they carry.
“Is what they have so important that something of your level has to attack?” asked Eden even though he would not get an answer.
“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!”
The monster opened it's mouth and imitated what a Dragon would do and roared at Eden.
“Honestly at this point I rather not turn into Dragon Form as well...well I can just bombard you with spells in the end, Lightning Shower!”
Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang...!
Lightning fell from the sky and hit the monster at several places. At this point it would be better to call it a fake dragon monster. The Fake Dragon Monster quickly regenerated it's wounds by replacing it with other parts from the forest and used some sort of variation of Viv's 'Grow Roots' spell to make vines fly into the air to attack Eden.
“Too slow!”
Eden dodged and flew past the vines that numbered in hundreds but were pretty thin and weak.
“Wind Cutter!”
Eden swung his arm rapidly in several directions and destroyed as many vines that were coming up as possible. He then took his sight onto the Fake Dragon Monster and charged up mana to use in one big spell.
“Flame Tower!”
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!!!
From underneath the Fake Dragon Monster, a massive column of flames appeared and ripped off part of it's body as it moved to dodge it as fast as it could. It lost an arm and a large chunk of it's main body as well.
Charging even more mana than before Eden said in a soft calm voice:
“I'm not letting you go that easy....”
Blue flames appeared around Eden's body as his spell was near completion.
“Soul Devouring Flames!”
The blue flames shot from Eden like a flame-thrower and drenched the Fake Dragon Monster and burnt every part of it at once. Trying to survive, the Fake Dragon Monster tried to discard the parts that were burning but the flames were spreading all over too quickly.
“....”
(Glitter~)
Eden looked at one of the rings on his hand. It was one of the rings of the '8 Ring Set of Elemental Chaos.' It was reacting to this Fake Dragon Monster in the end.
“This means that I can capture it right?”
Eden pointed the ring that had the power of 'nature' at the burning monster which was trying to escape with dear life and said:
“Your choice. Live as my servant for life or die now in my flames.”
“....”
The Fake Dragon Monster stopped moving and eventually the light on the ring increased to such a size that it consumed the Fake Dragon Monster...well at least it's core into it leaving the shell behind to burn with Eden's Soul Devouring Flames.
You have captured the mythical creature 'Kodama' in the Nature Ring of the 8 Ring Set of Elemental Chaos
You are able to summon 'Kodama' into the world once again by calling for it's name
8 Ring Set of Elemental Chaos Servants
Fire: None
Ice: None
Water: None
Wind: None
Lightning: None
Nature: Kodama
Light: None
Dark: None
“Well that's one mythical creature down...I don't even know what kind of creature lives in this ring now......I think I watched a movie that called them spirits living in trees? I guess I have a tree living servant now....”
Eden using 'Soul Scan' realised that there were a large number of monsters, even flying ones coming his way now due to the battle. Sighing, he figured that it was going to take a while to get back to the others now....
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Several hours later....
“I'm back...” said Eden with a battered set of equipment due to the constant fighting for so long.
“Nh.....ah you're back” replied Alexandra being the one who first saw him and didn't have much of a reaction. The same was with Viv as well.
However everyone else reacted quite prominently.
“Are you all right? You're not a ghost to haunt us right?!”
“How did you just out of that situation?!”
“Your clothes are all battered! You need to change now else you poison Haku's eyes!”
All of them were surprised that Eden alone, even though he practically had the highest level in the group could survive one of the 10 restricted zones in the end. It was even more surprising since there was a massive monster chasing them until Eden went to fight it where it was the last they heard of him.
“Ah....” Eden was trying to calm them down and only could after a while and then said, “The reason why I wasn't in contact was because a lot of monsters came out to attack me after I dealt with that monster we all saw. Well not exactly dealt but whatever.”
“....”
The five bards plus the 6 merchants and drivers were silent at the words Eden let out. As one of the restricted zones, even if it's at the edge, it was still a field of death. After Eden left to deal with the Fake Dragon Monster, there were a number of times they were immediately attacked at mass for some reason.
Was it due to the appearance of the Fake Dragon Monster or Eden leaving them to deal with the former, they did not know. However only after today they felt the full force of the Cursed Forest will hundreds of cursed wolves attacking. Cursed Trees moving to block the way and trap them and numerous, numerous curses being placed on them.
If it weren't for Alexandra tanking the enemies while Viv blew them away with his magic, they would have all died easily in the first attack. It was really quite strange for all of this to happen when Eden left.
Hearing this....
“Hmm....looks like they figured that me leaving would let them have a higher chance of killing you guys.”
“Why would they think that?” asked Haku.
“Remember my level?” said Eden with a smile.
The bards realised it then though the merchants and drivers already knew from the beginning.
“My level is the highest one and should be equal to the monsters in dungeons. Since we're in the general area, there are only weaker foes running around. Seeing that I was gone, even though there were two others with levels on the same scale as me, their abilities were ultimately restricted in the end so they took a chance and died.”
“I see. However usually monsters attack anyone that comes through here no matter what level they are or how large of a group they are in” said Robe.
“Well that just means they see me as more dangerous than a large group of high levelled players.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“But then how did you get here?” asked Robe once again.
“Flight magic.”
“Isn't that something only few mages can use? Levitation shouldn't allow you to catch up to us.”
“Robe. Stop questioning Eden. It should have been a hard trip to get back here right?” said Alina scolding Robe and smiling at Eden.
Alina hit Robe on the head with her wood staff at hand and Robe glared at her though there was no ill intent at all at her. Well they seem to be friendly enough. Though Eden really didn't like the full questioning type that Robe seemed to be. He was someone who wanted to know all the secrets without any efforts.
On the other hand Alina was more conservative and checked Robe in not doing something that would get him hunted by a large guild...or Eden if he wished.
Eden then looked at Haku and Saku who looked and admired Eden for being so powerful that he could come back fine. He also saw that look towards Alexandra and Viv as well, probably due to them doing actual work instead of Eden being the heavy lifter this time. Finally there was Minra who had no large change in attitude to Eden, most likely due to all the talking he went through with her that she's no longer completely surprised with him.
Either way, that was the end of the second day of the trip and into the third.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
The third day was kinda uneventful.
With Eden back, the other monsters more or less did not attack that much; at least in large numbers like before. Eden had several theories on this in his mind. The first was that his level was high enough to deter them even though this WAS one of the restricted zone. The second was something was commanding the lower monsters and did not want to mess with Eden. The third was that someone or someone else was killing enough of the monsters to lure them away or simply reduce their numbers enough...
All of these were unknown and Eden had no intentions of testing it out.
Anyway a few hours later, they managed to reach a small village place that only had a couple of buildings mixed in well with the forest and a large cave opening in the middle of a large cliff that extended down into darkness.
“This place is quite small” muttered Alexandra looking around the place.
Eden agreed with her in his heart since there doesn't seem to be a lot of space to do anything at all besides go inside that cave in front of them. A basic blacksmith building, a basic tavern and a basic set of buildings for storage. That more or less summed up the place.
The old merchant that gave the group the quest gathered everyone and said:
“Good work everyone! We were able to get supplies to this remote area. This will be largely rewarded thanks to your efforts.”
'Guard the Merchant and Supplies' has been completed'
- Fame increased by 500
- Infamy decreased by 100
- 5% increase in damage while defending merchants and carriages
You have gained experience
“Hmm....”
Eden looked at his experience bar and it only increased by a few percentage. It looks like something of this level was not enough for him to even gain that much experience now. Hunting monsters on the same level as him would have given a better effect.
“Gained 5 levels at once!” said Alina excited on the sheer amounts of level ups she got.
Minra even more excited said, “I got 37 levels at once! This quest gives as much experience as an A rank quest!”
Saku added in, “Of course! This would normally be something higher than a B rank quest but it's not on the level of an A rank quest. Lots of experience from this is normal! Also I gained 15 levels at once as well!”
Alina turned to Eden, Alexandra and Viv and asked, “How much experience did you three gained” with sparkling eyes.
“Not even 10%” Viv said, “7% for me which is baaaaaad!” Alexandra said, “Around 2%” and finally Eden said.
We all replied at once of the amount we got each. Eden wondered why he got the least experience even though his level was only a 'bit' higher than the other two. His time in the underworld was bad enough that his experience gain was even higher than Alexandra's and Viv's when they were hunting seriously while he was gone.
“Oh...” Alina seemed a bit disappointed since the amount that they got seemed to be a lot more.
Alexandra explained it as such:
“Don't worry, it's like when you reach level 200 or level 400 and things gets really slow compared to before. It's the same when you reach level 600 as well. Well by then you would probably get something like a 4th job advancement which I heard is extremely powerful, like on the same level as an unique hidden class on average.”
“Well a 4th job advancement IS changing into an unique hidden class you know. It's something that only 1% of players over level 600 gets. Even Weed's level is still in the 500s and there are at most 1000 players over level 600 at this point” Eden added in so Alexandra doesn't spread false hopeful information.
“Also at our level, decent experience from quests can only come from A or higher rank quests.”
Reality wasn't that kind to people. An A rank quest means dealing with a powerful boss monster while a S rank quest would probably require you to beat multiple powerful bosses or their equivalent otherwise in difficulty.
“Anyway let's get the other reward from the quest” said Viv prompting things to go forward. The others nodded and let the merchant finish.
“As a result for helping with this grand quest, you all will get a pass to go in that cave for free with this permit. You can sell it if you wish and this only lasts for a month as well.”
The old merchant handed out 8 permits which were like cards with the colour blue and gold and the symbol of a dragon on it.
“....”
“Well good luck from here on out. I pray that someone of your capabilities are able to get me back from this place to the main continent.”
With that the old merchant moved the 3 carriages through the small town and docked them at the storage place talking to what seems to be a guard from the Kingdom where they were placed in there.
With that, Eden looked on back to the five bards group in front of them. Due to the fact that there were five of them, nearly no small group would accept them. Also he only knew the abilities of two of them which were Minra the debuff damage dealer and Saku the sensor.
“Hey you guys want to party up and go into that cave place?” asked Alexandra.
Hearing this, Alina immediately replied, “Yes!” since this was an extremely rare chance to do things.
“In that case, let's merge out parties.”
“Yep!”
5 players have joined the party
“Let's go~!” said Alexandra enthusiastically.
Grab.
Eden stopped Alexandra from moving and said, “Before that I rather see what this place has to offer” cutting in. He did not want to go in and discover that the place had a hidden feature that made things troublesome and yet there was a counter to it in this town no matter how small it is.
Alina looked disappointed, Robe looked pissed off and the other three really didn't care as long as they got in eventually. It was very rare for an especially higher level group to offer to join a weaker group.
Anyway, the group plus five bards walked through the small town looking at the supplies that were being sold. The weapons and armours that were being sold a well. They were quite pricey compared to other stuff but where of higher quality than usual. Eden thought it was a good price since the materials needed would add onto the costs as well.
“On this much more damage and triple the price?” said Robe shaking his head as if he was insult by the weapon he was holding. The shopkeeper glared at him telling him to leave. On the other hand, the sight of Alexandra glittering on looking through the weapons countered his mood enough that they weren't kicked out immediately.
“Waaa! This is made from combining troll bones will iron right? It has the special property of healing it's durability while fighting! Something that is extremely useful on the long run when fighting a lot” said Alexandra in awe of the sword that was ash coloured in her hands.
The shopkeeper ignoring Robe who was still commenting on his own looked at Alexandra and said with a laugh, “It IS a good weapon. However it seems that he pales compared to the one on your back!”
“This thing? Ah, the design was made my a late friend of ours....the actual sword was customised and forged by several master blacksmiths” explained Alexandra taking out her 'Twin Beast Hollowed-Point Great-Breaker' to show the shopkeeper.
“Must have costed a fortune not to mention the material used here....my god are these engraved runes and even some that never been seen before?”
“To be precise....umm....how much did it cost again? This was years ago and I still to yet find a better overall weapon. Eden?”
Eden sighed and remembered the numbers. He was the one who had to pay for all the costs and such in the end.
“Hmm....the overall costs we had back then including most of the stuff we're still using was about 2 million gold I think? Your weapon alone costed around 350 thousand gold to forge minus the materials since we got on on our own. If you add that in...then the costs would be easily over a million gold since if I recall, there were several dozen rare metals and even more rare materials from monsters that we needed to find which took months.”
The shopkeeper laughed happily and said, “It's rare for someone to be that dedicated on a weapon. One can easily see how much you used it. This weapon can be further improved you know. This rune here....I know of it as the growth rune. Extremely weak initially but as time passes it turns into the most powerful rune. Find the one who engraved this and that person will be extremely pleased by the progress that this weapon has.”
“Wait, it can be upgraded?”
“Yes.”
“For free?”
Eden hit Alexandra in the head, “Of course not!”
However the shopkeeper said, “Perhaps. It's rare for one to use a weapon for a very long time. Especially when one grows much stronger than before and seeks more powerful weapons.”
A couple of minutes later and the showing off of her equipment, Alexandra usually wore her golden armour from the church since that stood less out than her 'Valkyrie Armour' but took it out at this moment. There were lots of laughs and such which amused Eden a bit since rarely did Alexandra get along with another person, especially when the other looks for profit.
“I have no plans on buying anything from you! It's too damn expensive. Every last piece of equipment on you are unique or higher grade. I'll be damn if anyone could steal them off you” the shopkeeper said as his last words before the group headed elsewhere.
From this, Eden found out there was a good chance of their gear being upgraded if they could find those who made them in the first place...he made a mental note to find them later to talk about it.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
A couple more hours passed since there were a surprising amount of things to do in this small towns. However the most attentive thing that was happening was this:
“Come Come! We have all the supplies you need to get into the cave and through it safely here! Cheap Cheap prices! Only 10 Gold for the Basic set! 20 Gold for the Intermediate Set! A bargain of 50 Gold for the Advance set for all the things you need to get through the cave safely!”
With those series of words, a mass of players rushed in and tried to buy of all the things this particularly merchant had. Seeing this, Alina also tried to rush in but Eden grabbed and stopped her getting another glare from Robe again.
“I have a good feeling that this is a scam for the price” said Eden certain about it. He was a bit stingy with money but not that much that he didn't live without luxury.
“Why?” asked Robe, “Why couldn't it be that a person is helping others?”
“Because we already have brought those supplies that that merchant is selling for half the price even with the mark up prices that this area has.”
Eden pointed and what that merchant was selling were ropes, torches and such that were quite rare in this place but not that uncommon. The only thing was that prices varied greatly and this one was in a bundle as well. Plus Eden had a feeling that he had a good reputation for people to rush in at him and not feel that they were being scammed at all.
“Besides, we already have enough things for one trip.”
A few minutes passed and the merchant was sold clean. While looking kinda sad with a tear in his eyes he said:
“I am sorry but my resources amount to only this much. If only I had more skills and contacts then...sniff...I have made no profit so the costs will....sniff...”
The other players were moved by this act. They then immediately started donating a small amount of change, usually a gold piece to the merchant. It was quite the act since Eden recognised this kind of thing from Alexandra. The five bards started tearing up and took out their wallets.
“If you 'donate' we will leave the party” said Viv threateningly, surprising everyone else since Eden was about to say 'I will break your bones' to this. Thinking about it, this was a lot more effective then simply breaking ones' bones.
“....”
The bards immediately stopped and then followed Viv's lead. Eventually then all the 'donations', the merchant got ended with the players moving into the cave. The merchant in question saw the group, he let out a greedy smile and approached them. Eden had a bad feeling about this.
'Oh great....more trouble.'
“Hello I am the merchant Mapan. I was wondering if you would make a small contract with me for at least a little while as you go through the cave. I am in need of guards so I can meet a friend on the other side” he said with a smile hiding all sorts of other emotions in there.
“....”
“Contract details” replied Eden. He personally had no problem on accepting things as long as it benefited greatly him as well.
“Of course. All I want is to hold your loot and sell it for a profit. The profit itself will be split 8:2 with you getting 80% of it while I get only 20%. At my current skill I am able to sell for a 4% mark-up price on skill alone.”
“....”
Eden thought about it. Usually with their skills merchants could get higher prices compared to other players. As such, they are often asked by players to sell loot for them. A mark-up price is the extra amount added onto the original selling point plus the amount that you would get with the skills the merchants had. A 2% mark-up price was considered really good for a merchant while 4% was someone at this point in the game as legendary and near god like.
“Is this a scam?” wondered Eden aloud. There was little chance to meet someone like this at all in the game.
“Haha, if it bothers you that much, I can easily sell for the 2% mark-up price instead. Only those who really trust me would prefer the 4% option.”
“In that case, the 2% one then. Also what kind of skills do you have that could help us?” asked Eden not at all trusting this person. He smells like Robe, someone to not be trusted but not as bad. At least this person is a merchant and for a merchant reputation along with money is everything. Eden could trust money at least.
“There are a couple. The most useful are the one that allows me to carry more japtem then before and the one that increases the amount of japtem that drops.”
'This...isn't that bad. In fact it was kinda perfect for a merchant inside a dungeon. Hmm...might as well see where this is going' thought Eden accepting the contract.
“Right, may I ask your name fair maiden?” asked Mapan.
Eden's face twitched a bit as Alexandra was holding back on laughing again. It has been a while since this happened.
“Eden.”
“Eden-nim. I am looking forward on working with you” said Mapan. The auto-translations of this game were perfect and imperfect at the same time. When someone intentionally speaks in a certain way, it doesn't get changed at all. As such dialect will not change.
For example if you call someone an idiot with the word frog, it would normally end up as frog. But if you intentionally use it that way, it will stay as idiot but does not end up being translated. Mapan's use of this makes it known that he was Korean and is giving respect to them right now.
“....”
“And you two are?” Mapan looked at Alexandra and Viv.
“Alexandra.”
“Viv.”
Mapan smiled, bowed and said, “Alexandra-nim and Viv-nim eh. Well then, let us go into the cave. I have a friend working on a quest in there which is the reason of so many being here right now.”
With that; Eden, Alexandra, Viv and Mapan headed into the cave.
“Well a minute! Why the hell are we being ignored?!” shouted Robe causing the four to stop.
Mapan looked confused and asked, “Are those five with you?” pointing at them.
“More or less” replied Eden.
“Yep” replied Alexandra more reliably.
Mapan frowned and said, “Their levels a bit too low for this area. However my combat abilities are non-existence as well. May I know your names?”
“Alina.” “Robe.” “Minra.” “Saku.” “Haku.”
“I see, nice to meet you all as well” Mapan respectedly bowed down to them lightly as well, “Though a bit disrespectful, is there a reason for them to be in the same group as you three. You don't seem that close to them.”
“Some idiot with muscles for her head took them in for a carriage guarding trip. Though I don't mind most of them to begin with. Their skills may be useful sooner or later.”
“Ah...that means you have those free permits to go through the cave right? Good, this will save a lot of money.”
“Is there a reason why you seeked us then?” asked Alexandra.
Mapan shrugged his shoulders saying, “I know the strength of people when I see them. The only reason why I approached you three is that I believe you can get me where I want without letting anyone dying even in this cave. Listen.”
The group more or less followed what Mapan said and allowed the voices coming from the cave to be heard.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“Let me go! Noo!”
“Help! Help!”
Eden wondered if those screams were live or something that echoed and was left behind.
“Too many people underestimated this place. The surface area is easy compared to what's inside there. There are foes that reach level 600 and above in there. Well then you people first” warned Mapan moving back to let others take the lead.
“....”
Eden suddenly thought that Mapan was quite the honest person now. Not many would shamelessly tell others to take a blow for them. It almost reminded him of...well Alexandra grabbing onto Eden and throwing him into an attack once...
[p=center]xXx[/p]
Bang Bang Bang...!
“Grand Impact!” Alexandra smashed her sword into the enemy and one shot it instantly.
“Let the stars fall into dust and nothingness. Starfall Series Spell #3: Meteor Stream!” Viv created a small black ball in which burst out a stream of black light killing everything in front of it. There were only ashes left of the enemies that dared attacked them in the end. Eden didn't even have a chance to attack at all let alone the others.
The group of now 9 walked deeper into the cave using torches to light up the place. Both Alexandra and Viv seemed happy enough on taking on a constant stream of enemies that everyone else didn't have anything to do but to talk.
Mapan was talking to the siblings Saku and Haku who wished to hear about some of the stories he had. Alina and Robe were talking about something as well.
Finally there was Minra being his talking partner again.
“Those two are extremely strong...”
“Yep, I knew that for a looong time now” replied Eden with a wry smile. He knew better than anyone else of how strong those two were.
“Hey you two! Don't use strong attack here! We might have a cave in and you know what will probably happen next!” shouted Eden seeing those two getting on with fighting too much that they were using some of their more destructive attacks.
“What will happen?” asked Minra not knowing what Eden was going on about.
Eden looked at Minra and smiled saying, “Just something that happened in the past. Long story...it was a stressful day that time.”
“That reminds me, I don't know much of the other four, care to describe them and their abilities? Most people either exaggerate their abilities or downplay themselves most of the time.”
“Of course. You heard of Saku's ability to sense things right? That ability like most bards are based around sound but her ones also cause other effects like making a goblin burst into flames or be frozen after hearing her songs for a while. Haku is the exact opposite with his songs focusing on allies instead. He can make people's skin turn into stone to increase defence, cover them in oil to make them harder to hit and so on as well. Too bad their personalities are polar opposites to what they can do.”
“Saku is the extreme conservative type while Haku is the extreme aggressive type. But that's a good thing since if they had each others' skills then they would instantly waste all their mana at once so it's kinda a good match.”
“Alina and Robe are the stat boosting type. Alina can stack multiple songs over and over again to give a good effect on a group while Robe can only play one song at a time but they are pretty powerful. Alina gets along with people while Robe....Robe isn't that trustworthy. To begin with, it's only because he stuck with Alina that he got to this point and all he does is cause trouble since Alina doesn't mind him!”
Eden nodded. Robe even managed to piss him off which was surprising since only Alexandra managed to do so after so long.
“And with you, the one who gets along with weirdos, the five bard group is complete!” said Eden humorously.
“Wa-don't call yourself a weirdo. You're normal, perfectly normal.”
Eden let out a small sad smile.
“I am not normal at all...if I'm not a weirdo then the only alternative would to call me a monster...which many people do.”
“Eden you...” Minra made a sad face at Eden. For some reason she got along with him fine enough though it couldn't compare to him, Alexandra and Viv reading each others' intentions before they talked.
“Ah, we're about to leave this cave. I wonder what's on the other side” muttered Eden seeing a bright light at the end of the cave.
“Eden-nim, on the other side is an underground carven. It's quite open spaced so there is little chance of a cave in” assured Mapan appearing into the conversation.
“Hmm....that reminds me, who is this friend of yours?” Eden asked.
Mapan scratched his cheek and said, “You'll find out soon enough. He's the person giving out quests this time for a price.”
“So the person responsible for people coming all the way here to one of the restricted zones...though it seems quite safe to me.”
“Eden-im you misunderstand. The area we passed through isn't the restricted zone yet. The 'Cursed Forest' is just the gate way to the real restricted zone 'Underworld Maze' though many just call the 'Cursed Forest' the restricted zone while consider the place we're going to as a large dungeon or the harder part of the restricted zone.”
“Hmm....”
“However considering that the 'Cursed Forest' is still quite dangerous to the point that many deaths occurred, it is correct to say that the 'Cursed Forest' is one of the restricted zones.”
“So it doesn't matter either way.”
“Yes.”
Eden thought it was kinda a waste of a conversation since no new information was obtained at all. Even for a cheat character like Eden, he would like to actually have information on areas before going to them. Too many times occurred when he was forced to discover things on his own much to his own peril especially since this is one of the restricted zones even if it was so far going 'easy' on them.
[p=center]xXx[/p]
“We here~!” Alexandra let out a happy cry seeing this new scenery after travelling for so long in a dark cave with enemies on all sides.
Eden also looked around and found that other than them, there were only around 50 people here along with a large bull, some birds and a creature made of gold. In the centre of this was a shabby looking man that was wearing beginner gear...no something that looks like that since this is one of the 10 restricted zones.
Mapan seemingly recognising the person called out to him:
“Weed-nim!”
“Weed?!”
The bards were all shocked hearing that name. Wasn't Weed a common name in this game? Eden wasn't sure of this point since such a untasteful name was quite popular. Well he wasn't the type to talk about others on their choices...unlike Alexandra.
The person named Weed, who looked to be an average Korean player as well looked at Mapan and immediately started talking quickly about something like japtem and gold. Mapan responded in kind and they rapidly talking about revenue, costs and such on a large scale that everyone else couldn't follow.
In the end, the conversation ended and Weed spoke in a loud voice that everyone could hear on the quest.
“The quest I have received requires us to defeat the boss monster in his place! It is located at the bottom most area where the strongest and most dangerous monster lie! However all of you are strong! With you all, we can conquer this place!”
“OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
A mass of 50+ people including the bards shouted at the same time. Mapan smiled greedy at the other players while Alexandra was also caught up in the atmosphere. Viv was calm throughout this speech and Eden was thinking of how much of a pain this would be in the end.
“But getting this far was difficult to me...” Weed made an impressive sad face which moved the hearts of everyone who saw it.
“Is it...to much to ask for some compensation for this great quest which will give massive experience and rewards from it...?”
Everyone shook their heads and started getting out their wallets to pay. Seeing this, an evil smile for a split second appeared on Weed's face.
“The cost to accept this quest will amount to 14 500 gold each.”
“....”
Everyone was silent then.
Meanwhile Alexandra exclaimed, “That isn't much at all!”
Eden sighed seeing her twisted sense of money. He would have to 'remind' her the true worth of money.
Onwards?PreviousExitNext
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Author's Notes:
- Word Count: 9700~
- Chapter 8 done~ Two more to go. This time, Weed and Mapan are introduced into the story.
- Not much content like battles and such but I think there are a lot of small things that are important in this chapter like the Kodama creature. That one will be appearing in the series later on.
- Now...to write up chapter 9...