By the time he woke up, morning had already arrived.
Seeing the girls still sleeping, he tried getting out of bed without waking them up, but his movement instantly alarmed Helen.
After signaling her to go back to sleep, he put on his clothes and left the inn.
The first thing he must do is to go to Zivek and retrieve his equipment.
Upon reaching the forge, Zivek saw him and raised an eyebrow.
[Are you fully recovered?](Zivek)
"Good morning. Yes. The Healing Cooldown is finally over."
[Mhm. That's good. Your equipment is over there in the left corner. *Sigh* It was troublesome to repair to the point where I almost wanted to suggest you change it directly. Anyway, due to the materials being significantly damaged, the overall durability dropped considerably. Now, it's at 70/70, but it should last long enough for you to get new items.](Zivek)
"I see. What about payment? Did the girls cover it?"
[They didn't.](Zivek)
"That's good. There are only so many things my pride can take. What's the cost?"
[2.2 million coins, but I'll round it up to only 2 million.](Zivek)
Looking at his inventory page and seeing his gold show 103,511, Michael sighed and explained the situation to the Blacksmith.
Then, he shared his 'screen,' showing all the items gathered from the Nightmare Dungeon.
With a full inventory, he hoped to exchange them for a reasonable amount since he was seriously short on money at the moment.
[Mhm. That would do. These items are not bad, and for those that are, I can simply salvage materials from them.](Zivek)
"*Sigh* I'll owe you one. I know the items cost only around 1.5 million, so I'll make it up on the next return."
[Just stay alive and visit my forge often. That's more than enough to make up the difference.](Zivek)
"Understood."
Leaving the forge, Michael's face recovered his previously blank expression, and he audibly sighed.
It was difficult to act familiar with a person he didn't really know. Furthermore, if he suddenly changes the way he interacts with people, who knows if they might consider him possessed or something and end up burning him on the infamous pyre?
Shaking his head inwardly, he calmly walked toward the Pink Palace since he had an appointment with Tia, Evelyn, and Neyrelle.
Last night, after many conversations about the girls' likes and dislikes, he ended up agreeing to take it easy today.
Seeing how worried the two beauties were, he had to agree. Therefore, it was decided that he would walk around the Fractured Peaks region today to 'collect' Lililth's Altars.
Furthermore, since the girls have been locked up under the orders of their older sisters for the past week, they've been going crazy about going out in the Wilderness to start completing their Region Progress.
So, under the pretense of 'two birds with one stone,' Mina and Helen forced him to take some 'bodyguards' when he went out since it was his first time doing so after the recovery.
Unsurprisingly, the young trio was having breakfast, and the Necromancer joined them in discussing the plan for the day.
Finding that Neyrelle had already mapped out and decided their route, he nodded silently and returned to his sandwich while checking the interface.
'Hmm... I still have 5 Quests to do. The Main Quest is currently locked, and apparently, the other four Side Quests haven't expired yet. That's good. I can wrap them up tomorrow before clearing Dungeons in Scosglen and Dry Steppes.'
First, it was the Main Quest.
[ Main Quest issued - Oasis of Memories (temporarily locked)
Objective: Meet with Lorath and Taissa in Tarsarak
Description: Taissa spoke of a palace Elias holds within the deserts of Kehjistan. Perhaps the locals of Tarsarak will know its location. Elias cannot be allowed to slip away now. ]
After conversing with Taissa yesterday, she confirmed that some locals know the location of the fabled palace in the desert, and Lorath needs a bit more time to find a proper guide.
There weren't many suicidal people who randomly wandered into the deadly deserts, even if the pay was good enough.
That was also an issue. To pay the guide, he had to gather 1,000,000 gold coins to compensate the man or woman for their troubles.
Shrugging while looking at the excited three girls talking about their plans for the day, he returned his gaze to the Quest interface.
The remaining four Side Quests haven't changed much, surprising the Necromancer.
'I understand that a game would lock the timeline, but this is a real world. How come nothing changed since it's been over two weeks since I accepted them and haven't yet completed any?'
[ Side Quest issued - Sentimental Value
Objective: Speak with Ulagan in Desolation's Reach
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Description: Having lost his Uncle in the fall of Guulrahn, a man named Ulagan hopes to recover the heirloom his Uncle once promised to him, hidden for safekeeping in Desolation's Reach. ]
[ Side Quest issued - Augury of Bones
Objective: Speak with Ogai in the Valley of the Strayed
Description: Jirandai locals spoke of a troublesome hermit digging through the remains of their honored dead. It seems he wishes to commune with 'The Grinning One' - an ancient entity once worshiped in the Steppes. ]
[ Side Quest issued - Crucible of Worth
Objective: Aquire an Oppressor Horn
Description: Gerti needs materials to reforge the Great Axe.
First, you must find an Opressor demon in the Hapless Frontier and take one of its horns. ]
[ Side Quest issued - Blistered Heart
Objective: Slay spiders to draw out their broodmother
Description: A grieving mother seeks revenge for her son. He was mutilated by spiders in Blistered Barrens. You've been hired to exterminate the vermin to draw out the Spider Queen. ]
Main Quest aside, since it was temporarily locked, Michael wanted to focus on the four Side Quests since they were long overdue.
Furthermore, unlike the other two regions, his activities in the Dry Steppes were insufficient to grant him the Region Progress rewards.
'The best course of action is to wrap up those four Side Quests and not accept any more until I finish the Dungeons in Scosglen. Then, based on the total number of points accrued towards the progress for higher tiers, I can move fully out of Scosglen and focus only on Dry Steppes until I reach the same level. Speaking of...'
Opening his Region Progress interface, he curiously checked its details, starting with Fractured Peaks.
[ Region - Fractured Peaks
Total Renown Earned: 2,800 points
Tier 4 Rewards: Blocked until reaching World Tier 3 Difficulty
Waypoints: 7/7 (Renown Value - 20 per Waypoint)
Strongholds: 3/3 (Renown Value - 100 per Stronghold)
Side Quests: 34/38 (Renown Value - 30 per Quest)
Areas Discovered: 74/74 (Renown Value - 5 per Area)
Side Dungeons: 22/23 (Renown Value - 40 per Dungeon)
Altars of Lilith: 9/28 (Renown Value - 10 per Altar) ]
With the fourth and fifth tiers of rewards temporarily locked, there was no way to earn further boons without first advancing to Nightmare World Tier Difficulty.
In exchange, he had to ensure that by the time he unlocked them, he could simply collect the bonus rewards without having to do anything more.
'Leaving aside the Altars of Lilith that we'll 'explore' today, I am still missing 4 Side Quests and a single Dungeon to have a complete region. While the Side Quests depend on the people, and I cannot do anything but wait for them to pop up, the final Dungeon is in similar circumstances. Until the church doesn't reopen its 'bastion' to the outside world, I won't have access to the Kor Valar Ramparts.'
Scratching his head, the Necromancer conversed politely with Neyrelle about their route and then was left waiting in the pavilion while the three girls geared up.
He proceeded to check the situation for the other two regions he had visited so far, wanting to see how far behind he was on the completion scale.
[ Region - Scosglen
Total Renown Earned: 1,675 points
Tier 4 Rewards: Blocked until reaching World Tier 3 Difficulty
Waypoints: 7/8 (Renown Value - 20 per Waypoint)
Strongholds: 1/3 (Renown Value - 100 per Stronghold)
Side Quests: 34/47 (Renown Value - 30 per Quest)
Areas Discovered: 59/70 (Renown Value - 5 per Area)
Side Dungeons: 3/25 (Renown Value - 40 per Dungeon)
Altars of Lilith: 0/34 (Renown Value - 10 per Altar) ]
[ Region - Dry Steppes
Total Renown Earned: 525 points
Tier 1 and 2 Rewards: Ready to Claim
Waypoints: 6/8 (Renown Value - 20 per Waypoint)
Strongholds: 0/3 (Renown Value - 100 per Stronghold)
Side Quests: 7/39 (Renown Value - 30 per Quest)
Areas Discovered: 39/51 (Renown Value - 5 per Area)
Side Dungeons: 0/21 (Renown Value - 40 per Dungeon)
Altars of Lilith: 0/33 (Renown Value - 10 per Altar) ]
While Scosglen was still more than 1,000 points behind Fractured Peaks, by the time he was done with the exploration of the region as well as its Dungeons, it would also reach a similar number.
Adding the Altars of Lilith on top of it all, he was certain that even if he couldn't complete everything 100%, he would still get the rewards.
'The surprising thing is that I managed to complete two tiers for Dry Steppes and completely forgot about them. Let's see... the rewards are the usual experience and gold coins - both of which are sorely needed - then there's a skill point and an extra potion capacity. The skill point aside, I found out the hard way just how important having more Healing Potions is. Let's accept these two and visit 'Aunty Veroka' before starting our exploration of the Wilderness.'
Accepting the rewards, he gained an extra 3,120 gold coins as well as some experience points that brought him to 1,115,956/1,666,350.
He wasn't very far from leveling up, so he planned to go on a rampage the next day. Helen was in charge of gaining sufficient intel about the Dungeons he would visit in Scosglen, while Celeste would prepare a guide that would take them to the Altars of Lilith's location around the region.
[We're ready!](Tia)
Seeing the very excited shortie, Michael smiled kindly and rose to his feet.
Gesturing for the girls to lead the way, he watched them with an amused smile as they walked proudly ahead of him.
All four summoned their horses and prepared to leave the city. As they did so, Neyrelle shared with them her MAP and the various pins she had attached to it.
[To begin with, we'll head for the Light's Watch Dungeon since there's one in the area north of the graveyard. Then, we can either ride to Nevesk or visit Margrave and its surroundings first and then take the Waypoint to Nevesk.](Neyrelle)
Signaling to the girls that they were the bosses and he would follow their instructions, Michael checked his memories for the location of the Light's Watch Dungeon.
Remembering it as the first Dungeon that his facade theorized to hold some interesting secrets about its formation, the Necromancer patted the neck of his horse and calmly followed behind the girls.
Exiting the city's walls with a strange expression, Michael wondered if his vision had failed him.
One of the braziers that was extinguished since it was already day had some extraordinary words scribbled on it, and to go even further, the Sanctuary helped identify it, pointing out its importance.
[ A long extinguished brazier, cold to the touch.
Jagged words are scratched into the rusty metal: 'Inarius is a goat.' ]
Speechless at the 'insult,' the Necromancer followed behind the excited trio, feeling that he was aiding and abetting criminals who escaped prison.
Surprisingly, instead of taking the usual route, the group exited through the southeast gate and followed a hidden road that brought them to the Southeast Foothills.
There, the girls jumped from their horses like hooligans and started pummeling the six Skeleton monsters that barred their paths.
Before Michael could even participate or cheer them on, there was nothing left except for some gold coins on the ground.
Finding the Altar numbered 13 on Neyrelle's MAP, the group activated it and received different amounts of experience points.
In Michael's case, it was a whopping 4,000+, greatly surprising the Necromancer.
For the one numbered 14, he was familiar with its location, as he had previously fought plenty of bandits in those narrow mining tunnels but still had to go since the girls hadn't activated it yet.
Tia wanted to join the 'Cull the Wicked' event that had just popped up on their interfaces, but upon seeing three other parties preparing to clear it, they gave up and continued traveling toward the Western Tunnels.
The road they took was teeming with Wargs and brigands, both of which were happily exterminated by the overly excited trio.
Upon activating the Altar in the mining tunnels, an Elite Skeleton and its Minions were summoned.
Michael had his own minions participate in the fight to prevent any accidents.
Using Corpse Tendrils and Decrepify from afar, he let the girls blow up as much steam as they wanted.
Next, moving through the Krol Forest, they reached the Shadow Trail and, after dealing with some Tree Wraiths, found a very well-hidden altar.
Without hesitation, the group headed to Margrave, where they took the Waypoint to Nevesk next.