“You only wanted one of those?”
“Yeah… The rest are yours.”
Stepping away from the others, Reghan and I discussed the books that I desired. He wasn’t unhappy with my request, but he needed more time to think if it was the right move to give me any of these.
Frankly, I could’ve just taken them myself, and none of them could do anything about it. But I had never been that kind of a person, nor did I wish to become one.
Fortunately, the book Julie wanted was only useful to her, so no one spoke a word about it. Her other party members were happy with getting a few potions and some of the equipment, and the rest of the ones Reghan gave access to felt the same way too.
I watched as Reghan mulled over my request once more, and what he said next surprised me.
He nudged my shoulder, smiling. “Take both. You’re on your way to clear another dungeon, so these resources were reserved for people like you.”
Two skill books appeared in his hand and he handed those to me. Julie did the same too, consuming the book without a second thought.
“My job is to maintain this defense and strengthen our forces in case the next invasion happens, and also, once we are strong enough, we might be able to tackle the dangers outside on our own.”
I stared at the books that I held. This was a massive gesture on his hand, and he’d undoubtedly face a lot of backlash for this action, but he appeared to have distanced himself from his previous persona and embraced a pragmatic approach this time.
Thanking him, I headed back to the pylon to access the rewards the system had promised me. And of course, I wanted to use the gem from the ant queen too.
The crowd that awaited Reghan’s news was watching me with some sort of curiosity in their eyes. Despite my name being listed in the system prompt when the wave ended, not a lot of them knew who that name belonged to.
As I approached the pylon, a familiar figure came over. It was Edward, who seemed to have experienced quite a number of wounds from the defense.
“I didn’t know you were that strong! You killed the boss on your own?” His cheery demeanor dispelled any doubts about his intentions, and I smiled in return. “As you can see, I didn’t fare that well. I wished I could do more…”
“Sorry, Edward, but I had to go.” A part of me was interested in their side of the story during the defense, but I still had so much stuff to do.
His expression showed that he understood my urgency as he thanked me for my help and left me to my own devices.
Once things had quieted down, I accessed the pylon.
[Your achievements during the defense have netted you: 15.000 + 3000 points.]
[You are granted bonus rewards from the system!]
[Old Pendant - Rare: A pendant that was made for an ancient general. It hums with an unknown type of energy. Unknown use. Cannot be equipped.]
[Mask of Loneliness - Unique: When you are without allies, increases all of your physical attributes by 10. + 5 Willpower and Strength.]
[Daggers of Recalling - Epic: When thrown, you can spend 2 mana to recall the daggers back to your hand. +5 Dexterity, + 3 strength.]
[Gold Trial Key - Use to access a Gold-tier obelisk. Be wary of the dangerous trial within.]
All of these looked like insane options right out of the gate. Yeah, some are better than others — even the seemingly unusable one like the Old Pendant — must’ve had some kind of utility later down the line. I’d assume that it was an item that worked in the same manner Spear of Tzatch did before I returned it to him.
On the other hand, The daggers were… interesting, to say the least. It had the same effect as my conjured daggers, but with the benefit of not requiring any mana to wield them; unless thrown. While it provided me with decent attributes, Having it would only clutter my already massive amount of weapon options.
And the creme of the crop, The mask of loneliness. The naming was somewhat sad, but the effects are undeniably good. Willpower was seeing more and more use as I faced higher leveled enemies, so having more of it would always be advantageous.
Then, The Gold trial key. I never expected that I’d be getting one from the wave defense of all things, but hey, it’s here and I could finally open that obelisk near the first dungeon.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I shuffled the pendant and key to my backpack and equipped the rest.
Well, the mask felt nice and cold when I wore it, but the feeling of something sticking to my skin would take some time to get used to. The number of power-ups I’d gotten was immense; I gained almost 20 stats in total from wearing the mask alone.
However, if there was one thing I disliked about the mask, it would be how it looked.
If I had to describe it, it was just… eerie. It looked too plain, too unassuming; Its somewhat boring look was somehow intriguing, and just uncomfortable to look at. It didn’t help when the mask kinda slithered its way around my face, fitting every crook and crannies of my visage to near perfection. Creepy.
Shoving that feeling aside, I held the gold key in my palm, studying its golden surface with scrying eyes. It was almost a perfect copy of the blue key, the only difference being its coloring, and It vibrated with a strange energy every once in a while.
I stored it in my pack, then took the pendant out. The chains rattled as I prod on its visuals; The little blue gem that was hung felt too heavy for something of its size, and every once in a while, it pulsed a dim, blue glow.
Next, the gem.
Taking out the orb of pure darkness in my inventory, I accessed the pylons to find a method of using them. Selecting the crafting option, my vision was blared with a huge dialog box, with two smaller, highlighted areas where I could slot my items in.
First, what item did I want to craft?
Can I…
I sent the spear of Tzatch out, garnering the attention of a few others — the bright coloring of the spear contrasting my dark, brooding look almost completely — and put it into the open box.
The spear disappeared.
[Select an appropriate gem.]
I inserted the queen’s core next. Both boxes turned green; The components were… suitable? I wasn’t quite sure what the hell to expect.
[Finding possible resulting combination…]
[Result found.]
[Tainted spear of Tzatch [Corrupted - epic] - The once famous spear made of light was tainted by an unknown source of darkness. Its history is now squandered, nobody will know the origin of the spear. Grants 10 to all physical sub-attributes when equipped, but only if the wielder possessed the Dark Affinity. Grants the ability: Shadow’s stifling darkness.]
[Shadow’s stifling darkness. : Gathering the power of the darkness, the spear unleashes a blinding burst of dark fog that will blind and confuse nearby enemies for 5 seconds, if their willpower is lower than the user’s intelligence. Recharges only during the dark.]
That’s… not too bad.
A part of me expected better, but what I got wasn’t disappointing.
The crowd watched the once bright spear turn opposite, now, its ornaments, its color, its presence, was of the night. It fit me more as my main weapon, since I ticked all the right marks for its special attribute bonus, and the ability it granted was more than just useful.
I kept the spear in my belt, satisfied.
Although it didn't take long before the prying eyes annoyed me, so I left the camp as quickly as I could.
Watching the once lively, verdant forest turning into wreckages of war instilled a sense of melancholy. After all, so many days had passed since I was thrown into here. The first few days were rough. It all began with the stalker, then the wolves, then the ant queen, and… well, all the things that happened after, were stuck deep into my core memory, unable to be forgotten for the rest of my hopefully, long life.
Leaping from one tree to another, I spotted a few natural wildlife going about their business. There was no reason for me to hunt them anymore; The system wouldn’t reward easy kills, and I ignored those that I found, electing secure enough distance before I finish up my preparation for what was next.
Before that…
Both skill books were solidly still in my hands, ready to be consumed.
Out of both, I wanted to try out meditation the most, since its regenerative properties would serve me well in the long run. Empower was useful, if not slightly, just slightly too boring, but the bonus power could be useful.
One of the ways I’d foreseen using it was combining it with my spear throw, after all the buffs that were already present beforehand; an Extra 20% bonus on top of the multiplied damage would be quite insane if I used them in tandem.
Then, I arrived at the once-locked golden obelisk. It hummed, radiating energy of unknown properties as I encroached upon it, and the key reacted in return, vibrating, begging to fulfill its purpose.
And indeed, its purpose was fulfilled.
[Entering gold obelisk.]
My vision went black, as how it should be, and I found myself inside a field, filled with thick, dense smog, stretching as far as my eyes could see.
[Defeat the enemy of your chosen difficulty. Any damage you took would lower your score. Take 20 hits, and you will die. You will gain additional rewards if you finish this trial with a perfect score.]
[Select difficulty.]
[Easy] [Medium] [Hard]
This wasn’t all that different from my trial before. But now, I had to actually fight instead of dodging things.
Naturally, I wanted to select hard. I had faith in my skills and my abilities, in terms of evading attacks, I’d say that I was pretty solid at it.
[You selected hard.]
A bright burst of light emanated from the center of the arena, almost blinding me, as it spread almost infinitely into the distance. I shielded my eyes, then retreated as far away from the center, the light eliminated all my passive buffs as I resurfaced, both my feet stepping cleanly while I readied my stance.
The light faded. And when it was dim enough for me to see things properly…
A woman, clad in a full set of white, stood still. Her blonde, almost platinum hair swayed from the gust of wind, covering her face and masking her figure due to its absolute length.
She turned around, her empty eyes staring at where I was. This… figure. It reminded me of Tzatch.
[Lvl 30. Aria White - Replica.]