Chapter 1018 A One-Way Ticket
Izroth had already reached 31% skill mastery with his Appraisal skill and was now able to see through the basic information of most players. However, this was the first time he had come across someone with a hidden stat similar to his Might stat.
'Reinforce... Is it a defensive-type hidden stat? Or, perhaps it focuses more on empowering one's attacks?'
While his Appraisal skill revealed the existence of the hidden stat, Izroth could only speculate based on its name alone. Nevertheless, he found it a bit interesting and was curious as to how many hidden stats existed in RML.
"For the time being, do not use any light sources. If you have a hard time seeing in dark spaces, make sure you stay close to someone with good eyesight." Izroth reminded.
All of a sudden, as he descended the staircase, Izroth received an alert from the system.
〈System Alert: Warning! All forms of system communications are disabled in this area.〉
'I was wondering why Niflheim or Menerva haven't checked in yet. It seems that this is the culprit behind it.'
Since they were in a party together and the distance between them was not too great, Izroth was still able to open his system interface and view the health bars of Niflheim and the rest of the 9th Division.
At the moment, everyone's health was still at full; therefore, at the very least, Izroth knew that the 9th Division was not in any immediate danger.
'Hm?'
After traveling down the staircase for a minute or so, a faint light suddenly appeared in the distance of the seemingly endless darkness.
'Did they just reach the bottom?'
Given Niflheim and Menerva's nature, they wouldn't have risked revealing themselves by using a light source unless it was relatively safe.
"If anyone can use light magic, now is the time to activate it," Izroth announced.
Not long after his announcement, a few people from the 5th Unit used light magic to illuminate the area. As they did so, the group's pace increased by severalfold now that they could see properly in front of them.
"Hahaha, finally some light! It felt a bit too awkward to talk in the dark. Brother, I wanted to ask—you and Commander Lances seem familiar with one another. Did the two of you meet before?" Halls asked.
"A while back, we participated in an event together along with many others. Back then, we happened to cross paths a couple of times. I wouldn't say we're all that familiar with each other; however, it's not as if we are complete strangers." Izroth answered nonchalantly.
"You participated in an event together with the Commander? Why am I not surprised?" Guan Yu sighed as he shook his head.
"An event? Are you talking about the second team selection?" Halls inquired.
"Oh? You know about the selection?" Izroth responded.
'I never mentioned it to them since I believed it to be irrelevant, but... I never expected someone like Lances to bring it up to others.'
"Well, when we visited the Pride Clan, they wouldn't stop talking about it and how the Commander placed seventh among the geniuses of the Mortal Realm. It was kinda hard not to know about it." Halls said with a slight chuckle.
"Oh, yeah! I remember now! They did bring up an event like that, didn't they? I remember being surprised that the Commander only placed seventh. He's pretty strong, after all. I guess there are still plenty of monsters out there. It's making me itch for a battle with one of them..!" Guan Yu said as he attempted to contain his enthusiasm.
"That's true. If someone like Commander Lances placed seventh, it really does make you curious about those who were able to rank above him. The person who walked away with the first place spot must have been a monster among monsters." Halls stated.
"Right?! I really want to try fighting that person at least once! Ah—brother, since you participated in that event, you definitely placed within the top ten, right?" Guan Yu said as if it were a matter of fact.
"You said you wanted to try fighting the person who placed first at least once, correct?" Izroth replied as he glanced over at Guan Yu with a carefree smile on his face.
The moment Guan Yu saw that carefree smile on Izroth's face, a wave of realization washed over him and caused him to smile helplessly.
"Hahaha! Brother, this is what they mean when they say that you should be careful what you wish for! It's too late to take it back now!" Halls burst out in a fit of laughter once he realized what was going on.
"You—it's just a friendly spar between us brothers. What's there to back out from? A real man doesn't run away in the face of a challenge. Besides, it's not as if I've been sitting around doing nothing all this time. I may not be able to defeat our brother. But who knows? I may still be able to give him a surprise or two." Guan Yu stated.
"Hah, I figured you'd go and say something like that. Well, I suppose if it's the current you, maybe you really will be able to give brother Izroth a small surprise." Halls commented.
"Then, after this is all over, I look forward to a surprise—from both of you. I'm going ahead to warn my group of your arrival." Izroth said calmly.
"Wait, what do you mean the both of us-"
However, before Halls could finish his sentence, Izroth had already sped ahead at an incredible speed down the staircase.
"...I somehow got dragged into it. Was it the monster comment..?" Halls said with a heavy sigh.
"Ahahaha! Didn't you just say it's too late to back out, brother?" Guan Yu grinned as he laughed heartily.
"Fine! If we're doing it anyways, I might as well get some revenge! Let's make a bet. Whoever survives the longest against our brother has to treat the other to a feast!" Halls said as he sped up his pace.
"Ha! You're on!" Guan Yu accepted without hesitation as he, too, increased his speed.
...
A few moments later...
'I'm glad to see those two haven't been slacking off. I'll have to test their progress myself when I have the chance.'
Woosh!
Izroth halted his steps as he arrived at the bottom of the staircase. The moment he arrived, the sound of a familiar voice entered his ears.
"You're finally here. I was just about to send someone back to check on the situation since the messaging system doesn't work this far in. I almost started to think you got yourself into some trouble up there." Niflheim said as he walked up to Izroth.
"If it were genuinely a situation that even our Captain was struggling to surmount, then our presence would have only served as an encumbrance. After all, even if our Captain happened to meet an opponent that he could not triumph over, he still possesses the ability to escape should it become necessary." Menerva noted as she paced alongside Niflheim.
"You're not wrong, but, as always, your choice of words comes off rather harsh," Niflheim commented with a weak smile.
After briefly catching up, Izroth informed Niflheim, Menerva, and the rest of the 9th Division of the 5th Unit's presence as well as their imminent arrival.
Once he explained the situation, Izroth turned his attention to the path ahead.
What he saw was a glowing circular portal that emitted faint pulses of abnormal energy. The portal was formed from what appeared to be some kind of slow-moving dark purple smoke and it was approximately five meters in diameter.
Izroth could not see beyond the portal with his Energy Vision Sense, so he did not hesitate to use his Appraisal skill to examine it.
〈System Alert: The skill «Appraisal» has failed on «???».〉
'Oh? Even with my Appraisal skill mastery above 30%, I still failed to see through it. Then...'
Izroth activated Deep Insight. Fortunately, this time, he did not come up completely empty-handed.
〈System Alert: [1] Flaw has been discovered in «???»!〉
〈System Alert: Flaw [1]: «???» is only capable of one-way travel.〉
'One-way travel. Once we stepped through this portal, we'll have to find a different way out. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem so long as we have Returning Scrolls. But, I'm confident that's overly optimistic thinking.'
Seeing as how communications through the system were already cut off, Izroth knew that the chances of there being more restrictions once they stepped through the portal were extremely high. However, greater difficulty more often times than not meant greater rewards.
As Izroth completed his scan of the mysterious portal, Halls, Guan Yu, and the rest of the 5th Unit finally arrived at the bottom.