Chương 63: 060 Arrival at the Temple of Ivok
James looked over the corpse and had to take a second so that his anger would not swell up again. After taking a deep breath he collected the loot.
* Ding *
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Loot Style: Party Leader Distribution
Loot:
8 gold coins
8 Devil's Ivy Seeds (Unique)
30 Stocks of Devil's Root
20 Poison Devil Thorns
10 Water Vine Leaves
1 Large Mana Crystal (Already Collected)
1 Skillbook: Weapon Enhancement: Miasma
Dungeon Kill Bonus:
Purified Key (Unique)
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The group looked at the list of rewards and were not impressed.
"That is it? All that trouble and the loot pool was this abysmal?" Mercury complained.
Destiny was even more upset than the rest, "Brother even died during the fight, are we just unlucky?"
* Ding *
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Party leader has distributed the items,
Party members gained:
Blaise: 1 Gold Coin, 2 Devil's Ivy Seed, 1 Large Mana Crystal (Already Collected), Purified Key
Reaper: 1 Gold Coin, 1 Devil's Ivy Seed
Totem: 1 Gold Coin, 1 Devil's Ivy Seed, 30 Stocks of Devil's Root, 20 Poison Devil's Thorns, 10 Water Vine Leaves
..
Karma: 1 Gold Coin, 1 Devil's Ivy Seed, 1 Skill Book
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Everyone received an equal amount of gold coins and roughly an equal amount of [Seeds]. While Totem gets all of the potion crafting materials.
James already knew the answer but felt he should still ask, "I hope everyone is okay with Karma getting the Skill Book, not only did he die but it has a lot of affinity for his class."
No one had any issues but wanted to know the contents of the Skill Book. Karma promptly thanked everyone and linked the book's description.
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Name: Skill Book - Weapon Enhancement: Miasma
Level: 1
Rarity: Epic
Effect: Covers the user's weapon(s) in a thick layer of toxic miasma. Enemies damaged with a weapon under this skill's effect will take 10 points of poison damage per second for 20 seconds. Can be cured with tier 2 potions (example Anti-Venom potion). Effect will be nullified if the target has immunity from advanced toxins.
Damage: 10 damage per second.
Duration: 20 seconds
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
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The group felt better with the loot now that they knew the details of the skill books that dropped.
"You weren't kidding about that skill. It really suits an assassin class very well." Praised Talon.
Everyone was in agreement and urged Karma to learn the skill already. Who in turn was very grateful to his friends. Without further hesitation he learned the skill.
It was time for the group to move on so James urged them forward, "Let's get to the temple!"
The group followed him and moved towards the temple. They had a much easier time progressing through the forest. No elite or higher tiered monsters showed up, without any real resistance they quickly arrived at the temple.
**** ( Announcement ) ****
The party under the leader of Blaise has purified the Forest of Ivok! Adventurers who enter the dungeon in the future will have an easier time traversing the forest but at a cost of loot quality!
***********************
A short server wide announcement was broadcasted for all the players to see. A large bulk of average players were cheering for their accomplishment while the leaders of the larger guilds were cursing about the decreased quality of loot.
* Ding *
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Your party has arrived at the Temple of Ivok!
An unknown Holy God is pleased with your results thus far, + 1 favor to ???.
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The party was stunned, "Did we actually just get the favor of a God?" Totem wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.
Mercury wasn't impressed, "It's just one God, there are plenty more. I got the blessing of Apollo so this doesn't surprise me."
James nodded his head, Mercury had slaughtered her way into Apollo's good blessing. It makes sense that they got a little favor for uncorrupting the forest surrounding a holy temple.
The party climbed a long staircase and arrived at the entrance of the temple. They looked around and saw that there was a large fountain across from the temple's entrance, smaller fountains littered around the walls, beautiful carving at statues of unknown people and origin scattered all around.
James approached the large fountain and noticed that the water was the same purple color as the miasma. Looking behind him the temple's entrance also had miasma slightly leaking out.
Just as James was going to talk a mysterious figure appeared in front of the entrance. With its appearance James's eyes activated and noticed a long line of mana flowing from the figure deep into the temple. Seeing where the line ended it looked like the temple had multiple underground floors.
The figure started to speak, "Greetings young ones. I thank you for cleansing the temple's forest of the miasma that was corrupting it." The figure paused for a moment and looked at each person in the group. It's eyes ended on James.
"You hold the Purified Key. If you look to my left and investigate the wall you will find that a section of the wall is just an illusion. A chest is hidden there along with a holy barrier protecting it, the key will let you open both the barrier and the chest." James simply waited and listened to the figure.
Seeing that James was genuinely listening to it the figure had a smile on its face and decided to explain further, "Within the chest you will find something that was left by the original creator of this temple, it will help you in your endeavor to cleanse the rest of the temple."
While the figure was surrounded by a gold light he was not certain about the credibility of it. "If the temple is corrupt how are you able to be here?" asked James.
The others in the ground had wondered that for a while as well.
Seeing that the group finally showed their curiosity the figure knew it had to quickly explain so that there was no confusion that would cause them not to continue their quest to clean up the temple. "I am but a mere projection, my real body is trapped deep into the temple by an evil Miasma Master. Due to you cleansing the forest he lost a little of his control over the temple and myself. I'm making use of this moment to appear before you. I haven't much time left. Will you continue your quest?"
James nodded his head to the figure, who in return became excited, "Excellent, please save me. I am held within the fifth floor of the temple's basement." As the figure finished talking it's appearance slowly grew dimmer and disappeared from the group's sight.
Everyone was excited and hurried over to the illusionary wall and waited for James to approach as well. After a few seconds everyone was confused that James had not arrived beside them. They all looked back and saw that James had not moved but was instead just looking around.
Talon questioned James's actions, "Don't you wish to collect the chest?"
James shook his head no. "Something is not right. After that figure appeared my eyes activated and I saw a line of mana reaching deep into the temple."
"Isn't that proof that the figure was telling us the truth?" asked Dregg.
"Yes and no. The figure did not lie about being a projection and his body being somewhere below the temple but I have a feeling that it lied about the chest." said James.
Mercury took a second to put things together in her mind, "Then you are saying that the figure is setting us up for a trap?"
James nodded his head, "I think so, I can sense mana around the chest. It is the same color as something else hidden deep in the temple near the figure's source. It also matches the color of the miasma's energy. Whatever is in that chest is bad news."
"So what now? Do we continue?" asked Talon.
"Not yet." replied James, who was now walking over to the large water fountain. He peered into the bottom of the fountain and saw that it ran strangely deep. After thinking for a moment he jumped in!
Seeing James's action everyone ran to the edge of the fountain and looked into it worried. The water looked like it was poisoned by the miasma but James jumped right in! Everyone looked at the party interface and saw that James's health was not decreasing in the slightest and looked back at the fountain. Ever since James jumped in they had lost sight of him.
The longer that James was gone the more the group worried. They all tried to send James messages but the game's system notified that the receiver was unable to receive their messages.
Mercury couldn't stand it any more and wanted to jump in after James. Just as she was about to jump into the fountain James surfaced. He lobbed a golden chest over the wall of the fountain and climbed out with the help of Talon.
Mercury was happy to see him and hugged him tightly but then the thought of him disappearing for a long time pissed her off so he pushed him away and started to berate him. "What the hell were you thinking! The fountain could have been poison for all you knew. Not only that but you didn't even tell us what you were doing!"
James looked around and felt guilty, there were traces of worry still on everyone's faces. "I'm sorry. I didn't have time to talk. I saw some mana in the shape of a chest and it started growing dimmer and dimmer. If I didn't jump in then and there I wouldn't have been able to grab that chest." He then pointed at the chest on the floor.
Everyone examined the chest.
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Holy Gold Chest
Quality: Holy (Unique)
Description: A chest hidden by an Archbishop of Ivok. Protected by illusions and magic formations, only someone who truly needs it's contents can find it.
Cannot be lock picked, must be opened with a Temple Key (Unique).
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"The real chest?" someone blurted out.
"I believe so." James replied.
* Ding *
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An unknown Holy God is pleased that you were able to find the Holy Gold Chest, + 1 favor to ???.
A strange voice calls out to you, 'Do not open the chest within the Realm of Ivok.'
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After everyone got the notification a golden beam of light shot out from the chest and pointed to a wall on the far side of the temple's balcony. A series of runes lit up and a magic formation disappeared. A Waystone appeared before the group.
"I guess this is a strong hint that we should leave the dungeon?" joked Totem.
"The warning from the voice came with the same notification about the unknown god, we should probably leave for the time being." said James. He then walked over to the Waystone.
Everyone followed suit. Once everyone was ready they placed their hands on the Waystone and disappeared.
* Ding *
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Your party has activated a Waystone! You may now travel to it from any other Waystone!
By default, it is linked to the Waystone in Ivok's Hidden Cavern.
* Due to player's not having used the Waystone before, the party will appear at the dungeon's entrance! *
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The party flashed away and reappeared in front of the dungeon's exit. James reached out and opened the door. The door opened slowly and another player could be seen slowly coming into view as the door opened wider.
Seeing the stranger appearing, Karma went invisible before the stranger could see him.
Everyone else entered the room ready for a battle.
"Greetings, welcome back." said the stranger in a tone that was not aggressive. James heard it and had a slight feeling that a fight may not be needed.
James thought for a second and looked around. He had noticed that the man in front of them had drunk a health potion not too long ago as his Health Points were increasing slowly.
"How was the Devil's Ivy?" asked James.
The man laughed. "It was fairly troublesome. It wasn't even fully grown and I had a rough time. I can't imagine what you and Reaper went through to kill a fully mature Ivy."
James looked deeply at the man. With his height he towered over most of the party he also had burly muscles under his chain armor, James could tell that the man was a strong fighter. After examining the man he sent Karma a message before returning to the conversation at hand.
"It appears that you know who we are but we don't have the pleasure of knowing yours." quipt James.
"It be my honor, the name is Creed." the burly man proudly announced.
Talon knew this man, it was a maniac. Only second to Reaper, while she was the Queen of PvP this man could be called the Price of PvE (Player vs Environment). He was a solo player in all the games he played. With no fear and a yearning for power this man turned into an experienced farming machine. He always topped the leaderboards.
"Creed , huh?" said Talon.
Hearing Talon talk, Creed turned to look at him. "Oh, you know me?"
"A solo player that typically tops the leaderboards. The only reason that the top guilds ignore you is due to your father's influence in the real world and your long standing history in the gaming industry. On top of that, other than being a farming maniac you stayed out of the top guild's way." Talon retorted.
Creed smiled and asked, "A fan?"
Talon was blunt, "No."
There was a moment of awkward silence before Talon continued. "In fact, I don't fully believe that you are the real Creed . That man would have already toppled the leaderboards."
Rather than a serious question it was more of a mockery, it has been impossible to steal another player's username for a decade. Ever since the Global Username Registry came around; every game that was released tied into this database. Only through directly contacting the company behind it could you change your username.
Creed was insulted and a bit of his anger slipped out, "How dare you, do you think that I cannot enter the top ten let alone the number on spot on the level leaderboards? I've been busy with something else in the game."
"I'm guessing it has something to do with someone called Holly?" James had a shit eating grin on his face. Karma had notified James that there was a female player called Holly hiding in the Waystone room.
Hearing his sister's name coming from the group who should be oblivious of her presence Creed put on a furious face and was about to attack. Holly was his reverse scale.
Before Creed could pounce on James a blond woman was pushed out from behind the illusionary wall that was hiding the Waystone. Seeing that Holly was forced out of her hiding spot Cain leaped over to her and pushed her behind him.
James had Talon tell him the story behind the two players in front of him and put on a smile. He had one word for the two of them weakness. They each had a very strong weakness, each other.
James had what he thought was a dashing and charming smile on his face and started to talk, "No need to fight, how about we come to terms?"
What James thought would smooth out the situation also pushed it over the edge. Talon saw what was going on and shook his head. Contrary to James's belief, his smile looked cunning and slightly sinister. Creed was ready to jump into action in a moment.
He knew he had to intervene. "Let's take a step back shall we?"
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