A bright pure white light shone from the shield as Elias equipped it. It spread around Elias and his health increased till the health bar filled up and beyond. It looked like Elias leveled up but it wasn't the so. The HP and MP bars that were visible above him were overflowing.
"Impossible!" shouted Arsenus pointing at Elias. "The shield! You can use it. What is a member of the Rotar lineage doing this far from the elven lands?"
Just as Arsenus finished with his exclamation, the fluctuating portal above the altar suddenly went berserk. It began to absorb the mana and a black substance started pouring out of it.
"You imbeciles! You broke the connection between the shield and the portal. I need to return before the portal closes. You will pay for this," shouted Arsenus as he bolted toward the portal and through it.
As soon as he got into the portal, a shock wave emanated from the portal. Elias jumped in front of Balthazar shielding him from the shock wave. A notification popped up in front of Balthazar at the same time.
"Successfully prevented the attempt of Great Worgen Sorcerer Arsenus from opening a portal in the White Heart Kingdom of Man."
"Light faction Reputation +50"
"White heart Kingdom Reputation + 100"
"Blackrock village Reputation +200"
"Worgen Reputation -200"
Balthazar was very happy when he saw the notifications. It is very hard to obtain light faction reputation. He had never heard of a way to earn it in the beginner village. These were hardest and rarest kind of reputation. But he suddenly got 50 at once.
"Come on, it is best we leave these hills as soon as possible," said Elias bringing his thoughts back to the cave.
They quickly ran back through the tunnel to exit the cave. As they reached the tunnel opening, they saw the old man Rotar flying towards the cave. He landed direct in front of Balthazar and Elias.
"Bold Adventurer. My thanks for helping my grandson. It must have not been easy to fight someone who managed to put a field that reduces others power. I am but an old sorcerer and very useless without my magic," said Rotar to Balthazar.
"Glad to be of help to you or any other members of the Light faction," replied Balthazar trying to butter up the NPC.
"That was very reckless of you to go into such danger alone," said Rotar looking at Elias.
"I understand grandfather. But it was worth it," replied Elias showing him the heirloom shield.
"How could it be? The lost shield of ancient King Rotar!" exclaimed the old man examining the shield in his hand. "Your attempt is indeed worth it."
"Hold on to it. You found it. It chose to signal to you. You are its rightful owner by all means. I doubt the family would disagree with that," he continued.
He then pulled out a gold treasure chest. "Consider this a token of gratitude from this old elf," he said pushing it into Balthazar's hands. "I had these for a long time but was unable to use them. I hope they would be put to good use in your hands."
"Quest Completed: Rotar's Request: Successfully escorted Elias to old man Rotar."
Performance: Excellent.
"Experience gained: 1200"
"Quest Item: Rotar's crest returned"
"Light elf reputation +50"
"Your relationship with Light elves changed from Neutral to Friendly"
He immediately leveled up. He was now level 4 and probably would be at the top of the level rankings if he opted for displaying his identity. He immediately checked his attribute panel
Character: Shadow Tyrant (Human)
Affiliated Village: Black Rock Village
Title: None
Job: Assassin
Level: 4
Exp: 240/1600
HP: 1200/1200; MP: 600/600;
Physical Attack: 35
Defense: 16; Attack Speed: 24; Movement Speed: 30; Willpower: 6; Balance: 15; Focus/Search: 15; Reflect: 1; Magic Resist: 4; Luck: *; Charm: *;
Attributes: Strength 17, Agility 20 , Endurance 11, Intelligence 6, Vitality 10, Perception 6.
No Special Racial Attributes or weakness.
Free Attributes Points: 4
"World Announcement: Player Shadow Tyrant of the Light faction is the first one to complete a special quest. Unlocked the special level 5 dungeon 'Cave of Wargs' at the blackrock hills."
Balthazar was completely shocked by this new announcement. He had never heard of this special dungeon 'Cave of Wargs'. "Maybe the person who took this quest in his previous life failed to complete it," thought Balthazar.
Meanwhile the control staff who heard it were shocked. These guys had a single job. It is to make sure that no player is cheating.
"It had been only 90 minutes in real life since the game launched. How could have someone already finished a special quest?"
"How many players were involved? Which guild?"
"It was a lone assassin."
"A single player finished a special quest? Contact the developer involved. Check the logs for case of any tampering or evidence of third-party software. These special quests were meant to be secret and very hard to complete. I refuse to believe that someone managed to do it when people still are getting used to the control of their characters."
A few moments later all his doubts were answered. There was no tampering of any kind noticed. The developer in charge of the quest also connected to the control room.
"What kind of quest did you create? Someone completed it within the first 4 hours of his game. Isn't it supposed to be one of the hard ones?" asked the person who is leading the team in the control room.
"All special quest are hard. It was created for characters below level 5. Even finding the bridge so quickly is very hard. We didn't expect any one to reach such long distance alone. The greater number of people in the team that takes the quest, the harder it would get. It is very hard to believe that a lone assassin would go and finish it so fast in the game."
"But what about the world announcement weren't these special quest announcements to be kept personal and not a world announcement."
"That I agree is something that we didn't expect. There are level 2 and 4 dungeons in the villages. Who would expect that someone would finish a special quest before those? The first announcement by default was to be made a world announcement to inspire the players," said the developer.
"Fuck that. I will put the same in my report then. Make sure that such mistakes are not there in the rest of the code."
"Already on it. I would still suggest you check the player for tampering and also his ID. No virtual gamer would be able to adapt that fast to game mechanics. Especially when the fights really hurt the person," said the developer.
"We have already done. There is no tampering and apparently someone the person the big boys upstairs decided to put under observation. Apparently, he has a very high adaptation rate and they want us to not concern with him," said an employee suddenly. "I just got the message directly from Constantine's special team when I checked for tampering."
Everyone was shocked to find out that this man was someone the special team was monitoring. The special team was made to check for perspective candidates who could be valuable assets for the military. Both for teaching and executive positions.
They were also probable recruits for the alpha team for operating the bio-warframes the Scions of Minerva were working on. The members of the control team were shocked that someone already showed potential for the special team to start monitoring.
It was expected to not have any proper searches in the first two day. In fact, they expected that before the general level reached 40 or 50, no person wouldn't interest them much.
"If that is the case, we better forget about the individual and continue with our work. There are bound to be exceptions in everything. Be glad that our efforts to recruit possible members are already showing fruition," said the team leader.
Balthazar was already having trouble due to the announcement. He already began to receive many friend invites. Some guilds were also requesting him to join them, including the Sirius Imperials who just an hour ago threatened him.
He quickly disabled new friend requests and muted the world and faction chats. It was very irritating to hear the constant buzz of notification from them. He received a call from Rudra.
"Dude! Is it really you, whom the world announcement was about?"
"Yes."
"Man! What level are you at? I don't see your name in the leader boards."
"I am at level 4 and I opted out from being displayed on it. I don't need unwanted fame. The world announcement is already very troubling."
"You got anything good from the quest. Will check and tell you. I didn't even get a chance to check my rewards since the announcement."
"How do you transport to the new dungeon reported in the world announcement. I can't see it anywhere on the teleportation point at the village here."
"I have no idea. There is a cave in front of me but there is no NPC or anything here. Maybe it would be accessible if I go back and return to the cave."
"The world announcements are filled requests to provide the location of the new dungeon. Some idiots are even threatening. It is best that you put in a comment sometime soon before they decide to hunt you."
"I will put a notice in the world chat once, I find out how to access it. Or I will just tell them I don't know. If they want to waste their time trying to hunt me. I will indulge them. I am not much concerned about a few overexcited idiots."
"Just contact me if you need any support. I am already gathering a few members to form a team. See you," said Rudra cutting the call.
He was with Slaine and a few other he found at the Silver leaf village. They were at level 2 and attempting the dungeon quest. Dungeon were special places to which the players were transported to from the teleportation centre.
The dungeons in general were easily accessible from the teleportation point but the new one wasn't visible. All they had to do was pay a teleportation charge to enter the dungeon. Even if they weren't accessible, they would be visible but grayed out.
"He doesn't know about it," said Rudra. "Maybe it will open up once we hit level 5. No one has reached that the required level anyway."
"That is not what I am concerned with. Some are thinking that he might be using it as a private dungeon," replied Slaine. "You know that such fame could make him a target."
"He can handle the irrational idiots himself. Such kind hardly have any decent firepower. Moreover, he has been famous in the world out there too for quite some time. Even before the recent incidents. He has experience handling such people," said Rudra calming down Slaine.
"Let us go finish the dungeon. This is the last try for today," said Rudra in the team chat as he selected to teleport them into the level 2 Instance dungeon - Corrupted Forest.
Balthazar after ending his call immediately set for to open the golden chest. When he opened it, a large light flew from the chest into the air and three items floated up and began to hover in front of him. They were bright and reflecting light as if covered by some kind of mana shield
The first one he took was a light green badge that seemed to be made of wood. It had the same griffon symbol that was there on the heirloom shield.
[Rotar clan guest badge] (Bronze Accessory, Badge)
Level 0
Agility +4;
Bound to Shadow Tyrant.
Passive Effects:
1. Blessing of the Forest: Would have a 5% increase in Agility when in forest or woody areas.
2. Provides access to elven lands of Ilis Valion, the fief of the Rotar family.
Active Effects:
1. Forest cure: Heals 10% of health or 150HP (whichever is lower) instantaneously.
This would be a very useful badge. The Passive effects are rare ones. But the active effect would hardly be useful after level 10. "Still, I can use it right now," thought Balthazar as he equipped the badge and immediately took the second item. It was a small book with the name Research written on it and a small name Archibald.
[Archibald Rotar's research records] (Silver Book)
Level 0
Contains the scribbles of the great mage Archibald Rotar, made during his youth.
Balthazar quickly opened it and went through the book. It contained random titbits of information on basics of potions, engineering, magic runes and the like.
For Balthazar who remembered these for a long time, it was practically useless. But given to Rudra, it can be put to good use. Luckily it was not bound to him like the previous item from the loot.
The third item among them had the most intriguing appearance. So, Balthazar saved it for last. It was a black mask with a scaly lizard-like appearance and silver runes glistening on it. Occasionally small gold line moved across the mask like it was being scanned.
[Mask of Shadows] (Unique Mask, Upgradeable)
Level 0
Equipment requirement: User must be either an Assassin or Swordsman.
"It is a Unique equipment!". There are various kinds of equipment in vita-nova. But unique equipment tend to have very useful special properties. It may either be beneficial to him or worsen his condition.
He also heard that they tend to be bound and can only be lost in special circumstances. If he could use it properly and upgrade it, it would be a strong piece of equipment. But if he failed to do so, it would be more detrimental. In his previous life, few experts also complained about these Unique equipment.
Also, these unique items tend to take up the slot for the accessory or equipment permanently. As long as he had it, he wouldn't be able to equip any other accessory or equipment of the same type. They also didn't show their attributes and effects beforehand. It would be a complete leap of faith to bind these to oneself.
As he was considering whether to use it or not, a notification popped up.
"Do you wish to equip and bind the mask?"
"Screw it. It is not like my livelihood depends on this game. I have more things to worry about than this," thought Balthazar clicking on bind option.
The mask immediately flew from his hands and covered his face automatically.