บท 49: The Mountains of Helda II
{I have set up a goal for the story and how to get me to release more chapters. Go to the auxiliary and read 'How to get me to release more chapters'. I know we won't be hitting the goals I set anytime soon, but I do want to chase my dream of being a payed author and this will help!}
{I've been playing with another idea for a story and I want to know if anyone would want to see another story by me while I write this one.}
I have been searching these mountains for awhile now and I cant find any clues of Flints exact location. I wouldn't be surprised if he is using magic to hide his location, on the other hand I have leveled up twice and I'm level 22 now. Still haven't caught up with the best players, but Flints quest will probably push me to 30 if the rumors about his rewards were true. I have 30 unspent stat points now and I think I should just save them. I open my stat panel to see where I'm at exp wise to the next level.
[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.22]
[Exp: 12,880/24,000]
[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]
[Stats]
[Strength - 850] [Endurance - 800] [Dexterity - 805] [Speed - 920] [Focus - 7300]
[Health: 6,600/6,600] [Mana: 73000/73000]
[Stat Points: 30] [Armor rating: 500]
[Inventory]
[Passive Perks]
[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]
[Active Skills]
[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.11 900/2000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]
My armor rating has gone up along with my level. I will have to start looking for better armor soon, I know of a place to get some great epic grade armor. The problem is I have to be level 40 to access it, which isn't happening anytime soon. I'm halfway too level 23 at this point and all I can really say is this is much slower than I'd like it to be, but nothing good ever comes easy. Its the middle of the night and I haven't heard anything from the world announcements yet, they must have either been defeated or abandoned the fight with the Arch Grove.
It didn't take this long last time this happened. A strong monster interrupts my thoughts, I can feel it up ahead and its stronger than anything I have faced yet. The Super Wasp and Spider Beast were strong, but not like what I'm feeling. Best guess is this thing is an apex predator, they are a sort of mini boss that can be found in area's infested with monsters. It could provide a large chunk of exp, I slowly make my way to the area I'm feeling this creature and I see a very notorious monster. I use inspect just to make sure my eye's aren't playing tricks on me.
[Jet Black Venom Tipped Cougar Lvl.40 elite] [Familiar]
950,000/950,000 HP
[Description: A creature known for its intelligence and ambushing prowess. It has many deadly characteristics, the one that you don't want to get attacked by is the venom on the tips of its teeth. The battle will become extraordinarily difficult in the dark since it seamlessly blends into the darkness. This creature is a familiar to a person in a nearby area.]
Its a familiar so that means its master must be at least a level higher than it. My instincts are telling me this beast belongs to Flint, and its protecting the entrance to his current home. I can take this thing down, but its endurance, dexterity, and speed are higher than mine. Monsters have way higher health than NPC's do, a level 50 tier 1 monster will have at least 4 million health. That is why so many organizations like the monster hunters guild and adventures guild exist. It will take a couple of tier 1 NPC's to kill a single tier 1 monster. As I am thinking and going over some information a world wide announcement goes off.
[World-wide Announcement: A player has discover the Legacy Class: Blood Mage. This a one of a kind class and is no longer available to the rest of the players!]
[World mission announcement: The coven of blood history wishes to know about this person. If anyone brings any information in they will be rewarded!]
So CrummyBummy has gotten her legacy class. Blood mage is a lore rich class and has some very unique abilities. I only know a little bit about it, but she will become extremely famous when her identity is discovered. Her class allows her to join a guild unlike mine. I focus back to the task at hand and look in the direction of the familiar. Bad news though, its gone. I quickly jump out into the open so it cant sneak up on me in the darkness. It was more than likely trying to ambush me. I look around the dark woods and I cant see or hear anything.
My nerves are on edge, this thing can jump out from anywhere and its hiding its presence from me. I have both of my swords drawn already, however I hear a voice call out from the darkness. "I believe you have been looking for me?" I turn to the direction of the voice and see an old man with a clean cut beard and totally shaven head. Looks just like he was described in the forums.
I have no intention to fight anymore and I sheath my blades. He takes the gesture as a sign of goodwill and begins to walk forward. "I was hoping to speak with you Mr. Flint." He looks at me annoyed. I don't know what I really should call him and saying The Hermit Flint is pretty long. We are now only a couple feet apart and he begins to rub his beard. I get a notification from the system about what I expected.
[This NPC is strong enough to view all your information]
I watch as his expression never changes, someone with his personality wouldn't react like others would. He closes his eyes and looks to be contemplating, soon he takes a short sigh and turns around. He begins to walk away and I stand here doing nothing. "You coming or not?" He turns his head around as he stops to look back to me. I catch up to him and begin following him in the dark woods. After awhile we come to a small shack in the middle of a very small field. His home is quite small and remote, truly lives up to his name as a hermit.
I can see that he's growing some herbs by the side of his shack. Other players wouldn't know what they are, but I do. Some of them are of epic and legacy grade, so he's a fan of alchemy. That was never in the forums or in his known lore. We eventually make it to the front door and he opens it, the inside of this place is actually like a mansion. Some sort of space magic that is warping its size beyond the front door. Its that or the front door is a portal that links to another place in Ancients World.
I follow him in silence all the way to his library. There are books about the history of Ancients World and also old tomes full of magic skills. I bet Stubbed Toe would go crazy about this place. As I'm about to ask a question Flint beats me to it. "I know why you are here Zern, but what you want will come at a cost." Give something to get something. I wonder what his demands will be for the information and quests I want from him. "I will give you information on Bellvia if you give me that adamantine metal you have." I have been hanging onto this thing for a long time with no uses for it. He can have the damn thing for all I care.
I take the adamantine metal out and I hand it to him. He inspects its quality and stays dead silent as I watch him. In an instant the metal disappears in a flash of light and he turns his attention back to me. "I will only give you one thing since I only got one thing. The information you need about Bellvia." In the long run a legendary quest will be more rewarding then all the quests I did in my previous future.
I take a moment to really prepare to remember this information. I will probably only hear it once. I have the journal of Fredrick Moris, but that had nothing in it other than the names of long dead people who knew the truth. He walks over to an old bookshelf full of scrolls and pulls one out that looks ancient. He brings it back over and hands it to me. Wasting no time I open the scroll and begin to read.
"My investigation of Bellvia and their involvement with the dryads disappearance has bared fruit. I have uncovered the kingdoms true motives. They are undoubtedly the ones that cursed the dryads, the curse was created by their head of occult research, Ulma Runa. It has all the characteristics and habits of my old student. The kingdom was after the recipe called bottled immortality, something that only the dryads have. Fortunately this can all be undone, but if undone all solid evidence of Bellvia's involvement will be lost. I don't have the means to free the dryads, and I don't know anyone else strong enough. Those trapped people are just going to have to wait. They are sleeping and are frozen in time, waiting to be returned to the state they left in. -Signed Flint"
As soon as I am done reading, a system notification pops up in my screen. Its about the legendary quest I'm on.
[Quest: The False One]
[Description updated: You have found out the truth about Bellvia and their involvement with the Dryads, and you have found out about the curse and who made it. You will have a choice to make, only one of the following objectives can be completed.]
[New objective 1: Expose the Kingdom of Bellvia and have them pay for their crimes.]
[New objective 2: Find out the weakness of the curse and use it to free the Dryads and return them to Ancients World.]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Rewards: Hidden]
I'm glad I don't have to go around in Bellvia trying to dig up truths long buried under lies. My choice is obvious in the return of the dryads. However, Bellvia is still a destination since I need information on the curse. I have made this quest easier, but made it a moral choice. Who knows the consequences of my choice in freeing the dryads, they could immediately wage war on Bellvia when freed.
I do want to do a quest for Flint and get some levels, but I don't know if I have anything else to offer. I also doubt he would be willing to give me a riddle, best guess is my divine class is causing that option to fail. "Is there anything else you want that could result in a mission from you?" No harm in asking. The first thing he looks at is my legendary sword, no way I'm giving this up. Then he looks over at my Dead's Bane. Even though its a good sword, I'd be willing to part with it. My damage will suffer, but I have great skills to make up for it.
I have made up my mind and looks like I'll be using one sword for the time being. If I'm being honest I prefer one. I have only duel wielded up to this point because I needed to, now I don't. I unclip Dead's Bane and hand it to him. It disappears in a flash of light and I feel a little empty, it was a great sword. Flint walks over to the same bookshelf and pulls out another scroll and hands it to me. I open it and I get a system notification.
[Quest: An Abomination]
[Description: Find the research and notes of Ulma Runa on her development of the curse.]
[Objective 1: Find Ulma Runa's lab in Bellvia's capital and bring the notes and research papers back to Flint.]
[Objective 2: Hidden]
[Quality: Epic]
Talk about something that can and probably will kill me. I look back up from the paper and I am shocked to see that everything it gone. The library, shack, and the open field. I'm in the middle of these dark woods all by myself again, looks like its time to get to a safe place and log off. I'm pretty tired. Thinking about it, my damage output is now only 8,850 with regular attacks. I can easily push that really high with Kingslayer and Raging Machine, put those together with slash and heavens light and I get 716,297 at the lowest with all those active. However, I will only use Kingslayer and Raging Machine in tough fights since they have long cooldowns.
So in reality I will be doing between 8,850 and 16,732.5 while only using slash. With the lowest buff from heavens light and slash together I'll be doing 40,931.25. I can easily handle things just as good as before. So I guess I got something out of this trip. I spend a few hours running to get out of the forest and settle in a spot on the path back to Glendar. I log off and instantly hop into my bed and start to sleep.
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