MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

"You found what?!" Though Valyr obtaining information on the quadrant leaders had definitely surprised them, the fact that their leader had discovered a new area they could explore surprised them even more.

After all, the places they had already explored within the inheritance had given them a lot, may it be in the form of XP or in the form of opportunities, such as the trials they went through to enter the Gates of Enlightenment.

With that in mind, the four had a feeling like the new area Valyr had discovered would contain something along those lines as well.

And thus, they bombarded the young man with questions, hoping to excavate as much of the information their leader had obtained regarding the area.

Then again, with how the existence of the underground area had something to do with a time far before even they were born, he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry.

With that, the young man decided to keep detailed information regarding the underground area to himself, even though he was certain that the four wouldn't really know what to do with the information if he did share them.

However, that did not mean that they did not know other people that had the power to make use of such knowledge, which was what Valyr wanted to avoid.

Especially since it seemed like he could truly monopolize on this information.

Calming the others down from their excited states of wanting to know more about the underground area, Valyr began to detail how he had discovered the underground area in the first place.

Mixing lies amidst the truth, the young man told the others about how the road beneath him had caved in, allowing him to figure out that there existed a labyrinth of metal corridors underneath the city ruins.

While talking about his first impressions of the underground area in detail, he also mentioned to the four that it was around that time he had sent a message to the party chat that he would be late.

Seeing the four nod in response to his words, Valyr continued with his story, making sure that his words would make the four place less importance on the underground area.

For a while, he talked about how the metal corridors had small entrances interspersed on its sides that led to small rooms.

He also talked about how he had looked into these small rooms from time to time, telling the four that he had found human skeletons and dessicated corpses in some of them.

At that point, the five of them began to animatedly discuss about the purpose of the underground area Valyr had discovered.

Unsurprisingly, the topic of the underground area being a housing complex for the poor or it being an apocalypse shelter was brought up during the conversation, referencing the forsaken state the city on the surface was in.

Nevertheless, throughout all that, Valyr pushed them to come up with theories that brought them farther from the truth, keeping the true answer to their question to himself.

Eventually, after the four felt they had reached a point where their theories of the underground area's purpose had become utterly absurd, it was only then did the young man continue with his story. 

As he talked about how he had come across living beings within the underground area, the other four undoubtedly became curious as to what kind of being Valyr had come across.

Were the beings human just like them?

Or were the beings more similar to the aberrations and primitive humanoids they had been fighting thus far?

Hearing the question, Valyr replied that the beings were as if a deity had combined the aberrations and the primitive humanoids into one being, giving them the great strength aberrations had, as well as the ability primitive humanoids had in utilizing it.

After listening to the young man talk about the underground area for a bit more, it was as if their earlier excitement in exploring it had been lost.

After all, from how Valyr was describing the underground area through his words, it seemed that the underground area did not have anything to do with the Triad Gates at all.

"If you guys want, we could explore the underground area together." Feeling like he had talked about the underground area for long enough, it was then that Valyr gave them this suggestion.

Though, just as he had aimed to achieve through his words, the four gave him their own excuses, telling him in their own words that they would be quite busy in completing the other objectives of the quest to enter the Gates of Awakening.

With that, the curtains to the night eventually drew to a close as everyone began to talk about the primitive humanoids and the quadrant leaders for a bit after that.

Then, not long after, the five of them headed into their respective tents and called it a day.

'All I have to do from this point onward to make sure that they don't call my bluff.' Staring at the ceiling of his tent, Valyr faintly smiled as he closed his eyes.

'As long as they don't find out the things I've obtained from the underground area until we leave the inheritance, then all is well.'

'Then again, something like that would definitely be easy to do.' The young man inwardly chuckled as he gradually fell into a deep sleep. 

'After all, there's no connection between the human civilization before the Great Cataclysm and the Triad Gates.'

…

"Mngh…" At the very moment the sun had begun to peek out of the horizon, Valyr's consciousness gradually roused from its slumber as he slowly made his way out of the tent.

Seeing that he was the first one to wake up once more, he then did a few basic stretches before starting to make breakfast for everyone. "Day 8. Once night falls, four months would have passed in the outside world."

"Guess everyone's going to focus on killing the remaining primitive humanoids today to complete the second objective before moving onto the quadrant leader."

Scratching the back of his head for a bit, Valyr gradually got a fire started as the aroma of delicious food gradually began to waft throughout the surroundings.

Keeping an eye on it to make sure it wouldn't burn, he then thought back to the train of thought he had earlier. "Then again, we all need to kill like 200 or 300 primitive humanoids at most. That's like a couple to a few hours at most."

"If that's the case, we could spend the rest of the afternoon fighting against the quadrant leaders… but I'll think about it later."

Deciding to save the conversation for when everyone was up, the young man returned his focus to the breakfast he was cooking, with Hal coincidentally getting out of his tent the very moment it was ready to serve.

Sometime later, the other three began to get out of their tents as well, grabbing a plate of food before silently eating their breakfast.

Then again, they weren't silent for long as each bite gave them more of the energy they would need for the day. 

By the time they had decided to grab a second plate of breakfast, everyone was already talking with one another regarding what they were going to do after they had completed the second objective.

Fortunately, it did not take long for them to come to an unanimous agreement as the five got ready to set off for the quadrants around an hour earlier than they did yesterday.

Casting skills on one another that considerably enhanced one's overall abilities, it was only then did the five go on their separate ways, with Valyr activating [Traceless Slither] the moment he was a fair distance away from the others.

Whoosh!

Thanks to the buffs he and the others had cast on one another, as well as themselves, it only took a third of the time he had taken yesterday to arrive at his usual spot in the west quadrant.

Not wanting to waste time as he recalled the quest he had gotten from Ryvrthe, Valyr quickly sprung into action against the primitive humanoids in the vicinity as he accepted the repeatable quest from the system for the nth time.

…

"[Shadow Serpent Magic Style]…"

"[Memento Mori]."

Having already completed the repeatable quest once for the day, Valyr was already nearing his second completion of it.

At the moment, he was only about a dozen or so kills away from completing the second objective of the other quest, which was to kill a total of 1,000 primitive humanoids.

Whoosh!

To no surprise, the surroundings in the vicinity of the group of primitive humanoids he had gathered became muted all of a sudden as the Shadow Energy lingering about pervaded through every nook and cranny in their bodies.

"[Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style]…"

"[Arcane Tide of the Dark Night]."

Then, retrieving the spear from behind his back, the young man controlled the Shadow Energy and mana within his body, moving it all towards the spear's tip as he swung it upward.

Swoosh!

Being frozen in place by the Shadow Energy that corrupted their bodies, it did not take long for the wave of dark energy to do its work, rendering the group of primitive humanoids lifeless as their blackened corpses fell to the ground.

Ding!

Hearing a series of notification sounds resound through his mind, Valyr went ahead and commanded the system to bring up the notification screen amidst his excitement.

Though, at the very moment the system had done so, a few notifications on the screen had instantly attracted the young man's attention.

[You have made progress in realizing the next stage of Slayer of Ascendants (1000/1000).]

[Through battle, you have shown that your strength stands above the hierarchy that was set long ago. Through battle, you have shown that your path to supremacy has begun to blossom to reality.]

[Through battle, you have made those in the pedestals quiver, fearful of your potential. Through battle, you have made those in the pedestals furious, hoping for you to disappear before you claim their thrones.]

[You have met the necessary requirements to ascend Slayer of Ascendants to the next stage.]

[You have upgraded the title 'Slayer of Ascendants' to Stage II — Defiance.]