When the giant Ruin Basilisk died, the other three were already in critical states. Duke Alfredo turned to the three and was about to cast his spell when Jack promptly shouted at him, "Your Grace, wait! Just let us finish these three. There is no need for you to trouble yourself!"
Duke Alfredo chuckled and said, "it's no trouble." Three spears of light impaled the three basilisks and sent them to their graves.
??
'@#$!' Jack was peeved. He was not really worried about troubling the duke, he simply didn't want the duke to shave away the exp points. When the giant Ruin Basilisk died, the players received no exp at all as they didn't involve with the combat in any way. While for the three smaller basilisks, even though the soldiers under them contributed the most in chipping the monsters' HP, the final blow still generated a large portion of the exp points. Now that the duke was the one dealing the killing blow, it was similar to taking away half of their income.
Out of the two days journey, in addition to these three ruin basilisks, many of the players had reached level 29, with the remaining still at level 28. They were only one level away from reaching the level where they could attempt their Elite class trials.
Jack himself still stayed the same, at level 27 Warrior and 26 Mage. For the dropped loots, they distributed equally among themselves as usual. Same as previous, Jack's gains were primarily on the souls. Even for the giant Ruin Basilisk which he got no exp from, he still received its full souls. There were 72,112 souls inside his container. Not as great as what he got from the war, and far from what he got from the Grim Sand Drake, but he could not expect every monster to give a crazy amount as that drake.
He used 70,000 souls to level up Sword of Light to maximum, and Arcane Turbulence to level 5.
Sword of Light, level 20/20 (Active skill), star: 1
Sent sword energy in a linear direction, sword energy deals 600% physical damage, 30% added Critical Chance.
Range: 10 meters
Cooldown: 2 minutes 54 seconds
Stamina: 70
He might be the only player in this game world that had so many skills and spells maxed out already at this stage. The others could only level up theirs by using free points from level up or Skill books which were very rare. They had also got a few of these skill books from the minions killed during this expedition. At that time, Jack showed no interest and just let them bid for it amongst themselves. The others thought that he was being magnanimous for not fighting for the books.
Some of Jack's spells had also upgraded after repeated usage. His Mana Bullets and Energy Bolts had reached the third star. His Power Strike which was originally at the head start had lacked behind since he mostly only used ranged attacks to support the soldiers during this expedition.
After the ruin basilisks were disposed of, they did not meet any more opposition on their way to the temple. Before long, they arrived at the outside of the temple. It was more like a ruin rather than a temple. Most of its walls and roofs were gone, but at least it still looked like a structure, unlike the Starlight Ruin which he saw in the past that completely had no roof anymore.
Commander Quintus organized the soldiers to station around the huge structure and sent out several scouts to the perimeter to watch in case the orcs returned. Duke Alfredo led a small team to begin an investigation into the temple. He was most eager to complete this expedition. All the outworlders were included in this team.
The inside of the temple was strangely empty, devoid of monsters, as shown by Jack's radar. 'Probably they had been scared away by the huge army?' Jack thought.
They continued to proceed through the empty hallway until they reached the main hall which was surprisingly fully intact. At one side of the hall was a large stage which should be where the orator made their speech. But instead of a preacher, there was a strange-looking opening on the wall behind the stage. It looked as if silvery liquid material was constantly moving around on the vertical surface.
Most of the players recognized that energy portal.
"Dungeon entrance!" Giant Steve exclaimed.
"Dungeon entrance? We call it outworld gate," Duke Alfredo said. "Mostly because it can only be entered by outworlders."
The duke then instructed his men to spread out and searched through every inch of the temple for clues on the duchess' cure. Jack and the others went and studied the dungeon entrance.
"So, is there anyone who volunteers to go in and take a peek?" John asked.
"Why don't you go in yourself?" Bowler said.
"The main character doesn't do that, we usually give that job to the expendable side characters."
"I curse your mother for side character!"
"Now, now, be civil and leave parents out of our quarrel."
Jeanny ignored the two's squabble. He said to Jack, "it shouldn't be dangerous for a peek, right? The dungeons we have encountered showed that we can just come back out again from the same place we enter. If it is too dangerous, we can just immediately hop out."
"There is no guarantee that every dungeon is the same," Jack said, inside his mind, he asked Peniel, 'is that, right?'
"Yes. High-level dungeon's entrance has the chance of serving only one-way," Peniel answered.
"Still, we won't achieve anything if we don't give it a try," Jeanny said.
"True. All right, let me be the one to test the water," Jack offered.
Bowler, who heard, immediately said, "bro, there is no need for you to take the risk."
John immediately concurred, "that's right, you should leave the task to side characters."
Bowler turned his glare at John, which John gleefully ignored.
While they were conversing about what to do, the duke came over to Jack. "How is the search, Your Grace?" Jack asked.
The duke's face was glum. "My men have returned. They found nothing. I have instructed them to repeat the search, but I have little expectation…"
He seemed to struggle before he spoke, "It seemed that this outworld gate is the only significant thing in this temple. I'm afraid whatever it is that we are searching for will be inside it. Unfortunately, we natives can enter this gate. I'm terribly sorry to put this on you, but will you do me a favor and go in to take a look?"
At that time, Jack heard system notification that informed him that he had completed part three of the chain quest, accompany Duke Alfredo to the Temple of Divine Squall. He received decent exp points and coins. Another notification soon popped up of part four of the Chain Quest, enter the dungeon to search for Duchess' cure.
Jack was silent while he conversed with his trusted fairy, 'I will lose the protection of the army if I go into that dungeon. Do you think there is a chance that I can complete this quest?'
"If it is a bona fide SSS quest, I would say no chance in hell. But then again, remember when I told you I'm not too convinced that this is an actual SSS quest?"
'So it's a gamble then?'
"What's to worry about? It's a dungeon, you will only lose 1 level, even if not considering your Immortal Soul. You have taken a much more ridiculous risk when you were facing that Grandmother Spider and Grim Sand Drake."
'That's true. All right then, it's decided!'
Jack accepted the quest, "it will be my honor, Your Grace."
Duke Alfredo clapped Jack's shoulder as he looked at Jack in gratitude. The others looked at the two in envy, how the heck did Jack managed to befriend a high-ranking NPC to this extent? At the same time, Jack also received another notification. His Influence skill, an auxiliary skill under social jobs, had upgraded to Intermediate Apprentice.
Peniel had explained to him that this particular skill was gained by getting to know and increase the affinity with influential natives. In which Duke Alfredo, Prince Alonzo, and such, clearly fell into this category. The effect of this skill, however, was vaguer. Peniel described it will increase the earned reputation and affinity, and influence natives' viewpoints and reactions upon him. The later part was oddly similar to the effect of the Diplomacy skill.
With this, all his Social auxiliary skills were in intermediate apprentice grade. Jack didn't care though, these auxiliary skills were just sideshows for him. If they increased, it's good. He would not specifically try to strive for them.
"Okay, you lots. Make your preparation, we will be going in," Jack said to the others.
"Wait a minute! He only asked you. Why do you drag us also?" John protested.
"That quest that you got from me, is it completed already?" Jack asked.
"No. It required us to help you complete this expedition. Clearly, reaching this place is not yet considered complete."
"Still want to see if I can boot you out of the quest?"
"Give us a minute to prepare!"
😉