Chapitre 265: Change, is it worth it? (III)
Zero wasn't sure if it was his dragon form resonating with the Krustallos or his own heart and mind telling him a couple of different thoughts. Now that he thinks about it, he isn't sure which anymore.
"Don't worry about it. I know what you're trying to say." Zeraph replied, not caring that he was giving up something powerful. "At the quest's end, I'll hand it to you."
"Really?"
"Yes." Zeraph licked his lips as he sat crossed-legged on Zero's head. "It's a game, Zero. Yes, I would like to get stronger, but my objective in this game isn't just that."
"What else is there?" Zero asked, not wholly getting what he was saying.
"Haven't you ever thought that there was more to this game?" Zeraph asked.
"You don't mean there's more, do you?" Agnis asked. "Like there is something exceptional about this game?"
"Yea, something like that."
Zero thought it over for a moment. He felt for a long time that this game was more than meets the eye. For Angel and his group to spirit away, quite a lot of Seeded players was strange. But, then, the strange occurrences they kept having in real life seemed to coincide with the game, almost as if the game world was slowly merging with reality.
The black dragon incident was entirely out of the ordinary, making him feel like what he had just experienced was all in his head. If it weren't for the others, they would've all brushed it off as a bad dream.
"Lately, I've been feeling that the game is hiding something," said Zeraph.
"Like?" asked Agnis. She wiped her sweat with a soft towel and sheathed the blade.
"I don't know. It's just fascinating." Zeraph's words had a tone of amusement like he was hoping that something like that would happen again.
Agnis raised her eyebrows as she turned towards Zeraph. Her armor clattered as she moved.
"You need to give us a better explanation. We can't read minds, you know."
"That's the thing," Zeraph said, a bit excited; he then glanced down toward Agnis. "There's just something special, almost as if two worlds are becoming one. Why are there Seeded Players? What is the Seed Shard's true purpose? And the million dollar question is how is the supernatural side of the world interacting with the game?"
"Magic?" Agnis shrugged her shoulders. "That's the best answer I could give, honestly."
"I don't know. The real magic is different from the fantastical crap you see in movies."
"True. I'm just throwing it out there."
"I know." Zeraph tapped his fingers on his arm while he was thinking about everything. "Do you want to know what kind of quest I got?"
"Does it have to do with the real world?" Zero asked; the way that Zeraph kept going back to the real world and the questions of the game made him ask such a question.
"Yes." Zeraph's words brought a slight chill down Zero's back. "Plus, we're all experiencing a lot of unusual events."
"True, but that could all be in mind," Zero replied, knowing that wasn't the case. He had way too many shares of unusual events even before all of this happened.
"You know just as well as I that's not the case. I was a believer once everything started to click in place. Especially the power we have all gained."
Power. That was something that they all never expected to gain. What was worse was Zero had gained more. Not just seeing the dead, but now to the point of hearing, sensing, and even interacting with them with his power that he never thought was possible. All the Seeded players had some form of supernatural power, and they were rapidly evolving.
Not only that, any quest that had to do with the real world was something that he didn't quite like, especially because reality should be free of fantasy gameplay. It was just too weird, almost mind-bogglingly creepy. Sometimes, he wanted to stop playing the game altogether, but something about the game drew him back in. The supernatural power he gained was possible because of these real-life events that triggered his mind into forming them; that was the only answer he could think of at this moment.
His unquenchable curiosity of why or what's going to happen next kept him coming back, though most of the reason was being forced to play by Angel's group. He didn't quite know their true purpose, but he suspected they were training all the Seeder players to become part of their group to do evil deeds. If he could, he wanted to escape the crazy cult group and enjoy playing freely.
"So, what exactly do you have to do?" Zero asked carefully, wondering what Zeraph had to say.
"Well, the second Seed Shard Quest has started."
"What?!" Agnis shouted; she quickly covered her mouth and glanced around. A couple of people glanced over to see what the commotion was about but quickly returned to what they were doing. She eventually slowly pulled down her hands and gaped at him. "You don't mean 'The Seed Shard Quest.'"
"Yes, it's that," Zeraph reassured her.
"No way." Agnis gasped; she then started to get excited at the thought of the Seed Shard Quest that Zeraph was in the progress of completing. "How did you get a Seed Shard Quest?"
"I'm not quite sure, but I just received one."
"That's so cool."
"I don't know if that's something to say that it's cool," Zero replied. Another Seed Shard Quest meant another wide-scale event. Whatever it was, it required the Eternal Stone, meaning something very powerful would likely come, especially if it meant changing history once again in a short period. With the Eternal Stone's protection loss, the Fire Continent had no defense against high-level monsters. With that being said, what other crazy event would change the face of history? The question now is, was the change worth it, or was it better to leave it as it was? That was something he didn't know.
"True, but I always wanted to try a Seed Shard quest from beginning to end," said Agnis. "At least once."
"I think I'll pass," Zero replied. "There are factors that could spell disaster, and if you fail, things go south."
"Yea." Agnis shoulder slumped. "Still, I'm going to get my Seed Shard Quest or wait." She brightened and looked up towards Zeraph. "Let me join in on your quest!"
"No." Zeraph shook his head; his voice was stern and quick to deny her.
"What?! Why not?" Agnis pouted. "Are you trying to keep everything to yourself?"
"No," snorted Zeraph. "If I could, I would've dragged you guys in to do the quest with me. For now, it's a one-person quest."
"So, how much more do you have to do to complete it?" Zero asked.
"It's going to take a while. However, my best bet is that I'll be finished near the Yami Hikari yearly event they will do in the summer."
"You serious? It's going to take that long?" Zero was surprised at how long the quest would take, mainly because the quest took less time to complete. But then again, Zeraph was doing the quest alone, which was already difficult enough.
"Yea, I need to go around the whole Fire Continent to get this quest over with. Unfortunately, though, I have a good feeling that I will end up back at Sky City."
"How are you so sure?"
"Hunch?"
Zero strolled, his tail swiping side-to-side. Zeraph said he would bring back the Eternal Stone when he was done with it. He trusted Zeraph enough to know that he wasn't the type to go back on his words.
"Anything else that we should know?"
"None, right this minute," Zeraph replied.
Off in the distance, Zero saw the crowd suddenly split apart. The buff-looking Troll, Jorge, was making his way through the crowd. If they didn't move fast enough, Jorge would push his way through, paving his path. With just a simple push by Jorge's arms, the soldiers have easily pushed aside, especially the Elven Soldiers, who seem so easy to move around. Their thin-looking armor didn't seem heavy or strong enough to hold back a Troll's strength.
But that wasn't the case. Instead, elven armor was considered one of the lightest armor made in Noriene, and when it came to the ability to hold against attacks, it was considered top-grade armor. In addition, their armor and weapons were enchanted with magic that helped strengthen, protect, and even cast magic to enhance the person who donned the armor.
When Jorge pushed, the eleven soldiers moved like water, splitting away from a moment of contact as they shook their heads toward Jorge with dislike. Trolls and Elves had a long history of heated arguments, hate, and war. Luckily, their dispute was better with the humans, making it look like their squabbles are considered child's play.
"Hey! Watch it, toad foot!" An elven warrior shouted as he snarled at Jorge.
"Shut up, pansies." Jorge snorted at their lame outburst; he shrugged it off as if nothing was
wrong and kept pushing through until he was finally at the edge.
"Hey, watch where you're stepping!" Another howled as he got his foot stepped on.
"Damn, tree huggers." Jorge spat; he adjusted his armor and grumpily walked towards Zero. "I swear, there's one too many of them out here."
Zero watched with amusement at the number of commotions that Jorge could conjure up in a concise amount of time. The number of name-calling and curses were extraordinary, especially hearing so many different names of being called toad foot was quite interesting.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone