YM778.TV Chapter 115: Rewards (2)
That was a really good question though... Gerrard\'s treasury holds countless high-graded artifacts – Dusksblade, the Helm of Rome… Spirits tome... But there was an dless amount of items he owned, an opportunity like this was unexpected.
But what I truly wanted deep down was Spellbooks. High-graded ones of course.
So that I could get my chance to become a more notable character in this story!
A chance like this might never come again…
"Do you have any…spell books?" My voice was innoct, masking the greed overflowing inside.
Gerrard\'s surprise was brief.
"Ah, so it is the knowledge you seek. Befitting… but yes, I do."
***
Usually, after clearing a dungeon, guilds or parties get rewards.
Some come in chests, others drop from the bosses themselves.
It\'s a loot lottery - the item rarity depds on the dungeon\'s grade.
High-grade dungeons, high-tier loot. Low-grade, low-tier.
Of course, sometimes a crazy powerful item pops up in some random, low-level dungeon.
But most people don\'t recognize these gems for what they are, so those items oft fall into the wrong hands... which gets messy.
***
"That\'s great," I managed, trying to hold back my massively large smile.
"But…Mr. Freya, there\'s one more request…"
He sat opposite to me, atttive. "What is it?"
Now, the delicate part.
If news of me saving Valcia gets back to her, it\'ll destroy any chance of me having a dect relationship with her.
Hopefully, she was still out… "Actually let me ask this first... How is Valcia?"
"...!"
The look on Gerrard\'s face is ough of an answer. Damn, she must have said some pretty harsh things about me.
"I never thought you\'d ask..." Great. Now I\'m definitely regretting this.
"She\'s recovering well," Gerrard replied, a soft smile gracing his face.
"She\'s still asleep, but wh she wakes up, I\'ll tell her you were the one who saved her."
My stomach dropped that wasn\'t the direction I was heading for!
The pottial aftermath of that wasn\'t worth the credit.
"There\'s no need. Might be better for everyone if you tell her you were the hero. Think of it as a secret to keep."
Gerrard\'s smirk was intriguing. "You\'re an interesting person... Are you sure about this, Rel?"
Of course, I am! If she knew it was me, it\'d complicate things ev more… But my reply was calm.
"Yes. I think this way is best."
"Very well th... Oh, and those spell books – sadly, I can\'t give them now, but I\'ll have the finest ones st directly to you. Two, perhaps three of your choice. Expect them soon, someone will be in touch about the details."
I was about to jump out of bed, but I had to maintain an air of gratitude.
"Thank you, Mr. Freya. And for…keeping my request confidtial."
Gerrard rose. "Not a problem, kid. More than that, I\'m grateful.""List, if you\'re without a guild by the d of your third year, come to Miracles. I\'ll welcome you with op arms."
It was a rash offer, but would he be a by the time I got to my third year?
I wasn\'t to sure but I carefully nodded. "Thank you." I watched him leave, wondering If what he said about joining miracles was true.
The number one guild in the world.
haah...
well, whatever, I just need time to think anyway. I don\'t think it\'s right for me to join a guild in the future.
I provide no value, not yet.
"System..."
FWANG!
[Yes, Mr Axel what can I do for you today? /ᐠ>ヮ<ᐟ\\\\ฅ]
"I\'d like to do a few upgrades for my base stats."
[Sure! Let me op up the upgradeable base stats from your staus window! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧]
[loading... loading complete!]
[Available Base Stats For Upgrade...]
[Points: 40]
[>Health: 98, >Strgth: 9, >Stamina: 64.5, >Speed: 63]
Ugh, these look pathetic. But now it was time to change up some things...
Click!... Click...Click...
And... done!
Click!
[Finalising Base Stat Upgrades... Please review the stats once more and confirm that the upgraded stats are to your liking Mr. Axel...]
"Yup, they\'re good, system."
...
...
...
[Confirming Stats... COMPLETE]
[Undergoing upgrades... COMPLETE]
[Upgrade Complete!]
FWANG!
________________
[OFFICIAL BASE STATS]
Strgth: 9 >> 59 (30.00+)
Speed: 63 >> 73 (.00+)
Health: 98 >> 98
Stamina: 64.5 >> 64.5
________________
Alright, finally some dect strgth.
Hopefully, this means I\'ll actually be able to damage monsters wh I head out to a dungeon.
That Silt Abyss dungeon especially...
***
[After the Pinnacle Academy Incidt...]
[Eldoria, Location: Syndicate Headquarters]
"..."
Morw eyed the bodies of Kayn and Franz, plastered against the wall and desk – a monstrous display of power.
Whoever did this…they were a force to be reckoned with.
Executioners, his right and left hands, tak down so effortlessly. were lying unconscious...
Wariness crept into him as he approached his office.
A familiar figure lounged on his couch, legs crossed.
"Vladimir?" Morw recognized the voice despite the altered appearance. "New disguise?"
"Naturally," Vladimir confirmed a hint of amusemt in his tone.
"This one seems to be better received than your previous, \'creations\'.""And also... where were you, Morw?" Vladimir asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"I tried to kidnap a future vessel." Morw frowned, a sse of disappointmt washing over him.
"Franz and Kayn stumbled upon Pinnacle\'s location by chance. A fortunate discovery."
"Lucky th," Vladimir remarked. "Though their technology is advanced. Any alert from Oberon, and they would relocate immediately. A missed opportunity, wouldn\'t you say?"
"Indeed."
SWANG!
Morw conjured a miniature mirror to see if they\'ve changed locations, but the portal revealed only clear skies. Pinnacle had vanished like a wisp of smoke.
"The next time we pay a visit to Pinnacle… we\'ll be taking the vessels by force,"
Vladimir mused, his voice sharp.
Morw nodded, his mind already calculating the necessary steps. "Agreed."
"Also…" Vladimir trailed off, a hint of casualness in his tone,
"Do you happ to have a Netflix subscription? I might stay the night."
Morw sighed, a feeling of annoyance crossing his face. "Yes," he replied curtly.
***
[Pinnacle Academy, First Year - Male Dorms]
[Sunday, 8:45 AM]
haah...
Another ability to add to the collection... but what? My brain wasn\'t functioning like a normal human being and I ded up freezing on what I should get.
There were so many possibilities, but nothing came to mind.
So I ded up heading back to the dorm to relax for a bit...
Of course, before that relaxation could happ... fate decided to chuck Jan into my path.
I thought I could escape him, yet he happed to be jogging like it would do anything to his already superhuman-like body...
"Rel! it\'s good to see you! Hav\'t spotted you since the tournamt. Heck, you\'ve be skipping classes too. Where\'ve you be?"
Does he know what happed?
Jan\'s the type to worry over the smallest thing, but going by his tone… maybe not.
It was too early to tell.
"I wt hiking," I replied, hoping to keep things short and sweet.
Jan froze, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at my academy uniform.
"Hiking… in that? And where\'s your gear?"
"These are my comfy hiking clothes," I shot back, a bit defsively.
"I just got back and wanted fresh air."
His eyes narrowed, unconvinced. "Riiight. So, where were you headed?"
"Back to the dorms."
"...!"
"Great! I just finished my run, so we can head back together."
haah... I knew this was going to happ... He was going to follow me regardless, and honestly, keeping things civil was better than having an awkward standoff.
But also I couldn\'t help why he was so fridly towards me?
Especially wh he got these crazy thoughts that I \'liked\' Valcia, classes hav\'t be the same...
As we walked, Jan started shooting me with questions.
"Where were you hiking? With all those dungeons popping up in Korea… I\'m sure you\'ve countered a few during your hike."
Well shit... I dug myself a hole with this.
I\'m not well versed in Korea\'s geography, and I\'ve only ever be to Korea 4 times in my tire life, so I think it\'s best to go with the setting where Jan usually hiked...
"Inwangsan mountains,"
Jan\'s eyes lit up. "You\'ve be there before?!"
"Yeah…"
"Well-"
He hesitated like he was about to say something… But for me, I already knew what it was.
With Jan\'s luck, he probably stumbled upon a hidd dungeon or something.
Just like in the original story – his weekds were spt hiking, solo-clearing low-level dungeons, and inevitably stumbling on rare materials or dungeons no one else could find.
It was the invisible string theory... of course.
As if he wasn\'t already lucky ough, the universe points him toward hidd dungeons.
Or, well, tripped him over them, since that\'s closer to how it happed in the story.
Anyways... the stuff he\'d bring back from those hidd dungeons would evtually be the key componts for his legdary weapon The Sword Of Hope, also known as Futsunushi.
But of course, he\'d need a legdary blacksmith to forge it… Enter Muramasa, but he wasn\'t due to appear till way later.
_________________
Authors Notes:
- Dungeon finders are paid to find... well dungeons.
- There\'s also a huge process in how dungeons are distributed, guilds either have to bid for the dungeon or be the ones to have found the dungeons first which is more likely the case.