Chapter 327. A Sudden Discovery
Floor Three
The Deserted Sea
A s Raven embarked on his search for the necrotic flower, the expedition to Khau’Krash was finally approaching its destination.
The Overcomer had survived many dangerous encounters, defeating some really strong monsters. It was only due to the TOP players’ incredible effort and Evil-In’s help that the ship hadn’t been sunk.
The beginning of that day was quite ordinary. None of the crew members doing their routine work or loitering around was ready for the burst of laughter and the deafening scream that came from the bridge.
“Ahahaha! Get ready to meet your worst fears, you stupid fools! Here lies the great continent of Khau’Krash!” Evil-In raised her spear in triumph, her red dress fluttering in the wind as she stood atop the rudder, her other hand over her eyes as she looked into the distance. Her face had the familiar expression of bellicose excitement.
Heavenly Maiden, who stood by Evil-In’s side, shook her head wearily. She was her contractor, sacrificing much to reach this position.
Technically, Evil-In was neither a pet nor a servant. She didn’t obey her contractor’s commands, but she wouldn’t attack anyone except those trying to hurt Heavenly Maiden.
By becoming the contractor, Heavenly Maiden had unlocked a hidden development branch based on the Bloody Duke’s power. But the price was really, really high.
As Evil-In’s scream reached the crew’s ears, hundreds of them dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the ship’s bow to try to see the much-awaited shore, their hearts beating louder than any war drum.
The sight that opened up in front of them made them shiver. In the distance, an incredibly large pillar — or rather its broken part — was rising from the water toward the sky.
Many players took out their Binoculars but still failed to take a good look at the structure, which meant that the pillar was too far and much, much bigger than they could even imagine.
Koshie lowered his Binoculars and stared into the distance. Taking a screenshot and sending it to his clan leader, he glanced around and, spotting Crimson Berserker, headed off toward him.
The two were rivals, pledging allegiance to competing clans, but they couldn’t deny the other’s skills. During their voyage, they had fought more than a hundred duels, most of which had ended in a draw.
“Hey, Nutcracker. What do you think?” Koshie asked with a smirk, remembering the first time he had heard this funny take on Berserker’s nickname from a Dice member.
Crimson Berserker’s eyes flashed as he struck back.
“Ah, Sloshy Koshie.” Shifting his gaze to the distant object, he drawled: “I think this is why that island was so difficult to reach. Looks like Evil-In hasn’t made up that Land of Monsters she told us about.”
“She hasn’t.” Koshie stepped up to him. “At least now we have a good landmark.”
“I wonder why we haven’t seen it before.” Crimson Berserker smirked and then jerked the Binoculars up to his eyes. “What the fuck is THAT?!”
Hearing genuine astonishment in his voice, Koshie used his Binoculars again and soon saw the thing that startled his friend.
Not far from the shore was a space crack from which poured golden light. Everything touched by it crumbled away gradually until it was reduced to water and dust. Judging by the size of the affected patch of land, the crack must’ve opened two or three days ago.
The distance was quite big. Crimson Berserker and Koshie exchanged glances and saw that they had got the same idea: anchor the ship as far as possible from the weird phenomenon.
Congratulations! You are the first player to visit the mysterious continent of Khau’Krash!
Once this land was full of life and thriving. Beautiful forests with wonderful animals and sun-soaked lakes were a feast to a stranger’s eye. The many races inhabiting this land believed in a bright future — but their dreams were turned into dust.
The sky was covered with ash. Blood filled all rivers and lakes. Rot took over the forests. Unprepared, the locals perished to the evil force that descended upon their lands.
Her name was Evil-In. The Death Reaper. The Bloody Ifrit. The demonic beast.
Only by a miracle, and by hundreds of thousands of lives being sacrificed, she was stopped but... But the balance had already been tipped. Since Evil-In’s imprisonment, this continent was ruled by force and death... and Monsters: those who had climbed to the top of the food chain, sharing this land among themselves to control everything and everyone in it.
Beware when you set foot on this shore. Even a moment’s distraction could cost you your life.
Title awarded: Discovering the World
Like a newborn baby, you’re just beginning to learn about this world.
+ 5 Intelligence
+ 15% to stats additions over 1 month
Each player received this system message once The Overcomer touched the shoreline. The first part of this story was known to everyone, but the second... What were those Monsters? What levels did they have, and how many of them were out there?
***
SPLAT!
Failing its final attempt to escape Torture, the Bone Leech exploded with a loud squish, splashing its whitish blood over everything within the radius of twenty feet. This liquid was similar to stomach acid, but far more aggressive, dissolving everything that came in touch with it.
“Shit.” Raven cursed at seeing the post-mortem damage for God knew which time during the past eight hours.
It was the third nest he had destroyed, but he never came upon anything that looked like a flower. He wished he had asked Hendelson whether the plant was a literal one or just a metaphor.
On the bright side, he had collected enough XP to reach level one hundred and twenty-seven.
Making sure no monster was left alive in the area, he focused on his search. He examined the remains slowly, inch by inch, so as not to miss anything.
Unfortunately, it was exactly like any other time when, searching the whole nest thoroughly for half an hour, he had found nothing valuable.
Step. Another step.
Having encountered these huge bones more than once, he could see they belonged to different species; he could tell apart at least three of them by the skulls. One was small, with flanges of extra bone on the back that looked like two spears. Another resembled Farris’s skull, but was more symmetrical and emitted a faint aura. The last skull was the biggest one: seven feet tall with a single eye socket.
Twenty minutes later, he was about to come to terms with another failure when something caught his eye. At first, it looked like an illusion, a play of shadows and light. But soon he managed to make out the item hanging in the air — a rectangular box carved out of stone with great mastery, the size of a regular chest, flickering like an unstable hologram.
With great effort, he focused his gaze on the box. Once he did that, shafts of iridescent light came from his eyes, fixing the item to its spot in space so it no longer disappeared.
Congratulations! You have discovered a Gift Vessel.
I wondered if those were even real...
Excited, Raven took a step toward the box but before he could touch it, it turned into a ray of light that hit his torso and disappeared.
What the...?!
Before he could even blink, a torrent of new messages rained upon him.
Congratulations! You have collected a part of the archived set: Master of Darkness
THE DEFENDER OF DARKNESS
Item Rank: ???
Description: ???
Characteristics: ???
Usage Requirements:
Time stopped for Raven as he ran his gaze over the lines again and again.
Messenger of the Heavens was the last stage of a player’s character development, long announced by the devs as something that you’d need all your luck to achieve. In his hands, he held an item meant for end-game content.
But what is Mind Level Five supposed to mean? he wondered, unaware that he had achieved Mind Level One a short time before.