When they reached the end of the hidden passage, they arrived in a massive library where shelves reached several meters in height. In the center, there was a large round granite table where Fray had already taken a spot.
"Take a seat," the storyteller offered and Rakna complied along with Evelyn. Ganymede was still there and he simply stood behind his summoner. "Now, since I'm sure you are already jaded by these antics of mine, let's get to the point," he said and snapped his fingers.
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Ordeal Completed!
You have discovered the secrets of the Oasis and Fray Brazwein has acknowledged your worth.
Rewards: 1 000 Exp, 3 Free Points.
Note: The rest of the rewards will be personally given by the Ordeal Maker.
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---
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Level up!
Level up!
+0.2 STR, SPD, INT!
Requirement updated: 44/440
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Rakna dismissed the window that he received and focused on the small box that had materialized on the table instead. There was also one in front of Evelyn, Pronos, and Tyran.
"These are called Heavenly Chaos Boxes," Fray explained. "They are like Random Boxes, that give you an item at random. But these are a lot more valuable. You can request specific features from the box. For instance, you could say 'weapon', 'skill', or 'armor' and it would heed it. However, the more specific you are, the less precious the object risks to be."
"Interesting…" Rakna muttered as he inspected the box.
"{You are lucky. That is a very rare item,}" Higure commented. "{High-level rankers would kill to get one of these.}"
Rakna mused about what kind of item he should ask and, in the meantime, it seemed that both his pets had made their decision. Each of their boxes opened and revealed two pills. Pronos' was of a yellow color while Tyran's was completely white. With a quick Appraisal, he got their info in an instant.
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Designation: Consumable/Bloodline Pill
Name: Lernaean Hydra's Extract
Rarity: Gold
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Description:
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A pill that was created out of the entire body of a hydra. The one who eats it and passes its requirements will gain the bloodline of a hydra.
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Effects:
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- Raises every poison-related skill to the Ascended Level.
- Awaken the Extra Magic; Myriad Poison.
- Awaken the Trait; Nine Lives.
- Awaken the Trait; Living Pool of Fatality.
- Awaken the Trait; Poison Immunity.
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Note: Only reptile races may use this pill. If the user is a pet, this will unlock a path of evolution.
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Designation: Consumable/Essence Pill
Name: Asura's Tear
Rarity: Gold
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Description:
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A pill concocted from the essence of an Asura of Anti-Magic. This breed of Asura is tailored to be the perfect and near-flawless magic nemesis. The one who eats it and passes the requirements will become an incarnation of anti-magic.
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Effects:
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- Gain the Nirvana Skill; Magic Eater.
- Awaken the Trait; Magic Immunity.
- Awaken the Trait; Magic Reflection.
- Awaken the Trait; Magic Detection.
- Gain the Title; Anti-God.
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"…"
"{Yep, I know what you're thinking. Broken,}" Higure snickered.
"Haha, it seems the little ones have struck rich," Fray remarked. He could tell with a glance what each of those pills was. "Though, I would not recommend you eat those yet. It would be disastrous if they transformed here. Especially the Asura… hosting an Anti-Magic being within my Tale could be a bit arduous, even for me."
Rakna hummed and waved at the pills, taking them inside his spatial ring for safeguarding. The two pets nodded at him in understanding.
"Is it normal that they both got an item like that so easily?" The therian asked.
"In fact, yes," Fray nodded. "Firstly, if not specified, the Heavenly Chaos Boxes will not give you an item that you cannot use. And for creatures like these two, there are a lot of items that are unusable for them. Most of the suitable ones are consumables. You realize how far that narrows the range of the random pick, right? Furthermore, since they are your pets, they somewhat inherit your luck due to that relation. Result? This."
"That does make sense," Rakna admitted and with a flash of light, the two of them stopped talking to see Evelyn open her own box. What came out of it was a skill card.
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Skill Card: Use it to learn the spontaneous skill 'Blink'.
Requirements: Level 100, Exceled Mana Control, 200 Endurance.
(These requirements can be overruled by Phantom Membrane.)
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Description:
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Blink is one of the rarest fast movement skills in the System. It is hailed as the fastest and most applicable teleportation skill attainable.
By cloaking your body in mana and bursting it to create a break in space-time, the user can blink from one location to another instantaneously. The range is limited to what the user can see and the cost depends on the distance.
There is a second application to this skill called Extend Blink. By spending a fixed amount of mana and casting for a fixed amount of time, the user is able to teleport to any location they have been at before.
In the later stages, this skill's effect will become applicable externally to the user. Such as teleporting others without following them, shifting the locations of incoming projectiles…
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First Cost: 5 MP per meter.
Second Cost: 100 MP per person. Casting Time: 30s.
Cooldown: 1 min.
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Note: Extend Blink cannot be used to travel between Plateaus.
Additional Note: Blink is a hard skill to master and if not careful, could lead to grave injuries.
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"That is definitely a useful skill of which the requirements can be bypassed if you possess an incorporeal body," Fray commented. "A very good pick."
"It's a bit ironic to get a skill thanks to something we could have avoided with the former," Rakna snorted.
Evelyn giggled. "True. If I had this earlier, we could have teleported directly to everyone and we would have missed this place."
"That would be very sad for me now, wouldn't it?" Fray uttered. "After hundreds of years, my oasis finally allowed someone in. How long would it have taken for another to appear?"
Rakna scowled at him. "Other than what you told us earlier, what are the other prerequisites for someone to get in?"
"Well, frankly? Even I do not know," the author admitted sheepishly. "My magic is… let's say unruly for the most part. I can very well make a framework for a story but if I do not give enough edicts to the tale, it will do it on its own. If I had to guess, I would say that you got in for several reasons which include your past, your strength, your talent… and perhaps your future."
"That far?"
"Yes. Tale Magic can sometimes be used for prophetic purposes. Though it is a very conditional process and I scarcely employed it in my lifetime," Fray shrugged. "Anyhow, are you not going to open your box?" He changed the subject.
Rakna mused and juggled with the box for a moment before storing it. "Not for now. I don't have a peculiar need. But I might in the future so I'll save it. I could also give it to Allan, Nyx, or Flavia if they have a good use for it."
"As expected of you," Fray said and stood up. "In that case, let's get to the second reward."
"There's another one?" Rakna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes. One that is exclusive to you this time."
"Oh? What is it?"
Fray grinned and spread his arms open. "This."
"…?"
"This."
"…I'm not following."
"This."
"Stop that. And please don't tell me the reward is you."
The storyteller laughed and opened his fan. "No, regrettably, the reward isn't me."
"You meant 'fortunately', right?"
"But it's something much better," he continued, ignoring the therian's rude remark. "What I offer you is this entire library. The collection of all that I've ever read and written."
Rakna reacted somewhat intriguingly to that. He looked around and got a proper look at the rows of books this place held. Just in the direct vicinity, there were thousands of books and he couldn't see the end of the library beyond that.
"What kind of books are in here?"
"Everything. Truthfully, the stories that I wrote do not even constitute a percent of it. Storybooks, science books, medical books, history books, martial art records, magic records, almanacs, lecture books, etcetera. You will not get bored of it any time soon. It took me three hundred years to fill up this place and believe me; I was an avid reader."
"That's all well and good but… how am I supposed to carry all of this with me?"
"Simple, you do not," Fray retorted. "This library does not really exist. It is a product of my magic to some extent but it would be more accurate to call it a Soul Marble. Something that you yourself are on your way to learn. Thanks to its nature, I can do something like this," he stated and snapped his fingers.
In the blink of an eye, all of them abruptly were transported back to the oasis and Rakna felt an odd sensation in his magic circuits and somewhere… deeper. His balance and mind got dizzy for a moment before returning to normal.
"{Oh my…}" Higure's baffled voice echoed in his head. "{You might want to come to your soul realm whenever you can, Rakna. This is quite a sight.}"
"Done!" Fray raised his voice with a smile. "I gave you everything that I had to give," he said as his body began to fade away into motes of light. "However, there is one last thing I would like to give you. Consider this my last wish." Along with those words, Rakna heard a chime go out and a System window appeared in front of him.
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Fray Brazwein, The Exalted Quill, extends a Quest to you.
Description: The Scribbler of Tales is a Unique Path that extends beyond only one user. When a scribbler dies, the Path will eventually be given to another person. Fray Brazwein wishes to be able to leave a legacy to his inheritor.
Objective: Find the new holder of the Path. The legacy has been automatically secured by the System and will be given out upon meeting the concerned individual.
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Rewards: Unknown.
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Do you accept?
Yes/No
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Rakna blinked at the prompt and accepted it without much hesitation. There was no reason to refuse in the first place and it's not like there was a penalty for failing or a time limit.
"Thank you, Rakna Xiorra," Fray said, his fan still over his mouth. "I bid you a good journey from now on. It was a pleasure meeting you," he said and his body fully disintegrated. The oasis suffered the same fate right after and the array was taken down. Where there was once a lush area was now nothing but sand.
Rakna blinked and made an odd expression. 'Why do I have a bad feeling…?' He thought to himself.
"{…what was that melodrama even for?}" He heard Higure speak but somehow, he knew it wasn't directed at him and that deeply concerned him. That concern turned into misery when he heard a boisterous laugh.
"{Hahaha! A storyteller such as myself needs a grand way of going out. I think it was beautifully done. What do you think?}"
That day, Evelyn saw one of the rare instances of Rakna showing a face of true anguish.