Izroth wondered why the villagers abandoned the young Trephasia as it was an uncharacteristic trait. But now, it all made sense.
'Indeed, a cruel but effective method.'
Examius, Drowmius, and Nainia bodies started to turn into particles as the Great Spheres of Heslin beneath them followed suit.
"You spoke of the Undying Maelstrom having a will of its own—this is not wrong. The Undying Maelstrom is a relentless entity. It lives and exists, just as you live and exist. When that child awakens, the Undying Maelstrom will be reincarnated into this world. Once that happens, it will hunt her down to the end of the realms to have its revenge, destroying whatever lies in its path. You must make sure that the past does not repeat itself... You must... pr... ia..." As Examius spoke, his last few words faded into the wind as his body fully dissipated along with the other two elders. At the same time, without warning, Izroth, Luna, Azalea, and Mirage received an alert from the system.
���System Alert: The quest «Awakening of The Lost Bloodline» has been automatically accepted and can no longer be declined!〉
〈System Alert: You have lost -2 Luck!〉
The once beautiful Millennial Veiled Oasis had morphed into an endless expanse of total darkness as the vortex in the sky disappeared. However, a few moments later, the surrounding space cracked open and shattered like a glass mirror, and, in the blink of an eye, Izroth, along with his party, were back in the Pzenium desert!
As for the Millennial Veiled Oasis, it was no more! Everyone and everything in it had disappeared—at least, almost everyone.
The young Trephasia was still unconscious in Mirage's arms; however, her complexion was a lot better, and her HP had been restored to full.
'It seems we have been given no choice. However, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Eventually, someone else would have discovered that place and uncovered its secrets.'
Izroth had quickly scanned over it once before when he first received the alert for the quest, but this time, he examined every detail of the quest.
'It appears that I have quite a bit of preparation to make.'
Quest Name: Awakening of The Lost Bloodline
Recommended Level: ???
Recommended Party Size: 12
Quest Rank: SSS
Quest Objective: Assist the owner of the «Empress Brooch» in awakening their lost bloodline and prevent the rebirth of the Undying Maelstrom.
Time Limit: ???
0/1 Meet with the Guardian of the Forest and receive their blessing.
0/1 Journey to the «Mother of All Forests» and visit the «Tree of Provenance» with the owner of the «Empress Brooch».
0/1 Acquire a drop of «Millennial Dew» from the «Tree of Provenance».
0/1 Fully awaken the owner of the «Empress Brooch» true bloodline using the «Millennial Dew».
0/1 Prevent the rebirth of the Undying Maelstrom.
Reward:
-Grand Order Territory Deed(Main Quest Holder)
-Gain +2 levels
-Gain +1,000 World Fame
-Receive x1 «Rare Skill Book»
-3% chance to receive x1 «Lost Skill Book»
-1% chance to receive x1 «Legendary Skill Book»
-Receive Title: Eternal Benefactor of the Trephasia(Solitary)
-Receive x2 «Epic Equipment Treasure Chest»
-2% chance to receive x1 «Legendary Equipment Treasure Chest»
-0.10% chance to receive x1 «Unique Equipment Treasure Chest»
-0.001% chance to receive x1 «Divine Equipment Treasure Chest»
Reward Note: You may only receive x1 Skill Book and x1 Treasure Chest. You will automatically keep the item with the highest quality.
Failure Penalty:
-Existence Wipe
-Death of the owner of the «Empress Brooch»
-Royal bloodline of the Trephasia lost forever
-Undying Maelstrom unleashed upon the world.
Special Note: This quest may be shared with up to 11 other players.
Now, there were only two quests in Izroth's quest logs. The Beginning of Beginnings and Awakening of The Lost Bloodline—both of which were SSS-ranked World Quests, capable of forever changing the fate of RML!
If other players discovered that two of such quests were in the hands of one player, there would be a huge uproar!
...
"Good job, everyone! With this many Spirit Shards, we are sure to be within the top three—even first place is not too far out of reach!" Two Tons said as he led the party towards the exit of the Spirit Caves.
"Yeah, though we wouldn't have gotten as many shards if not for Realistic and Scarlet. They're the true MVPs this time around." Hidden Pulse stated with a smile. He was excited that this local event had been a success. The rewards that awaited them was enough to make any player look on in envy!
Reilei shook her head and said, "Xiao Liang and Ayanellia deserves all of the credit."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Realistic. After all, as their summoner, you deserve most of the credit. Though I have to admit, when Xiao Liang first transformed, I was really shocked. I never heard of summons that can take on a human form." Phoenix commented.
"Hmph, your mistake is comparing this venerable young master to those low-world spirits. Let me tell you, in the Spirit Realm; there are countless spirits who would be willing to carry this young master's shoes around but are not worthy of doing so!" Xiao Liang declared.
"This brat, there he goes again speaking nonsense. If only he were more well-behaved like Ayanellia." Phoenix scoffed.
"This young master is telling the truth!" Xiao Liang shouted like a child throwing a mild tantrum.
"Yes, yes, we have heard it before, our 'venerable young master'. Hahaha!" Two Tons and the other party members laughed.
"Y-you all...! You dare bully this young master...!" Xiao Liang puffed.
Reilei chuckled slightly when she saw Xiao Liang interacting with the others. At first, he would not acknowledge any of their existence. But now, Xiao Liang was willing to exchange words with them! Although his choice of words could still use some work, at the very least, he seemed to be opening up a lot more lately.
As for Xiao Liang's talk of the Spirit Realm and his bragging about being a young master, Reilei took this as nothing more than a child's vivid imagination.
Scarlet, who stood at the back of the group, observed Reilei and her summons.
"That shitty old man, constantly asking for favors and yet never listening to what I have to say...!" Scarlet muttered quietly to herself.
She then continued, "First, I had to deal with 'that' monstrosity of a player, and now this similar anomaly appears. Does she even have any idea what those summons of hers are capable of? How ridiculous..."
Scarlet did not find Reilei by coincidence. She "crossed paths" with her just as she once did with Izroth. However, her method of approach was different this time. Compared to Izroth, Reilei's personality was not so well hidden. Initially, she planned on using a similar process of testing Reilei; however, she did not even require any digging or scheming to get Reilei talking! In fact, Reilei was more than willing to share just about everything.
Therefore, Scarlet tossed her initial plan out the window and decided to use the local event to observe Reilei. What shocked her the most was Reilei's inexperience when it came to games. While she picked things up fast, there were still many things that any gamer should know, and yet, she was utterly oblivious to it.
In the end, Scarlet believed that Reilei was either an outstanding actor or totally oblivious to her own situation!
"They give off the same feeling, but it's different somehow... Well, whatever. I just have to report back to that shitty old man now that I have the data. This is the last time I agree to run an errand for him. Hmph, see how he starves when I don't bring him any food." Scarlet mumbled in a slightly frustrated tone.
A few moments later, Reilei and her party reached the exit of the Spirit Cave; however, strange sounds were coming from out in front of the cave.
"It sounds like people are fighting outside." Shuyi frowned.
He then continued, "I'm going ahead to have a look." Shuyi entered stealth mode before leaving to scout ahead.
"Fighting? Did some of the parties have a disagreement?" Hidden Pulse questioned.
During events like this, it was not uncommon for parties to compete over the same targets. It could be that one of the parties stole the other's prey, and now there were having a dispute outside the Spirit Cave.
"I don't know, but it's better if we wait here until Shuyi returns." Two Tons said. There was only one entrance and one exit to the Spirit Cave; therefore, if they wanted to leave this place, then they would have no choice but to continue forward.
...
In just a couple of breaths, Shuyi returned with a grim expression on his face.
"The Spirit Cave's surrounded by a large group of players. I counted at a total of thirty. Most of them were unfamiliar, but among them, I recognized six of them. Those six were all members of one of the other parties who also participated in the event. But, I have no idea where the other twenty-four players came from, but one thing is certain—their intentions are not good." Shuyi explained.
He then continued, "One of the parties that left ahead of us were annihilated the moment the set foot outside of the Spirit Cave. I can only assume the same applies to any other unfortunate party that reached the exit. However, I did discover that most of their party consists of ranger-type and mage-type classes with three tanks blocking off the escape routes. From the positioning and equipment-type of their backline, they seem to specialize in AOE and crowd control skills. I would have gathered more intel; however, one of their mages seem to possess some kind of area sensory skill and almost discovered me through my stealth."
"No, you've done enough—more than enough, Shuyi." Two Tons released a deep sigh.
Thirty players? If it were ten or even fifteen, perhaps they could force their way through. But thirty was a bit unreasonable.
"Should we wait for the other parties to reach the exit and form an alliance with them?" Phoenix suggested.
"That would be ideal. Unfortunately, we have no idea how many parties are still left in the Spirit Cave. After all, we went quite a bit deeper than the others, so I would not be surprised if we are the last group that's leaving. Nevertheless, I think this is the best course of action. For now, we will wait them out. I don't believe they'll stay here forever." Two Tons stated.
Everyone agreed with Two Tons' suggestion. The people outside had obviously come prepared. Rather than take any chances, it was best to play it safe.
1 hour...
3 hours...
5 hours...
"Why aren't they leaving?! Don't they have anything else better to do?!" Hidden Pulse finally erupted in a fit of anger. They had been waiting here for 5 hours, and the group of players outside had yet to budge! Did they want to eliminate them that badly?! Why were they going so far?!
The rest of the group also appeared to be frustrated by this fact. Fortunately, those who were not participants of the event could not enter into the Spirit Cave; otherwise, that group would have already rushed in.