....
Shin finally arrived at his destination. And when he do, a system notification immediately greeted him.
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You have discovered the new open dungeon 'The Corrupted Ruins', rewarding you 100 Fame points.
System: You are the first player to discover this dungeon, giving you an extra '30% EXP Boost' and a 'x2 Drop Rate' on this place for one Natural Week.
(I will be using the terms 'Natural Days' and 'Natural Weeks' for the 'In Game Time' to avoid confusion in the future.)
Shin become overjoyed when he saw the system notification, but that idea shattered almost immediately when he realize that his EXP gain will now be divided into four. One-forth for himself, another for his sword, while the other half will be equally divided to his pets, Whitie and Blackie.
*Sigh~* "Can't help about that, if I want to become stronger, I need to sacrifice something in return." Shin consoled himself before summoning his pets.
Their levels are still currently in zero, so they can't help Shin for now and can only be become a part of his 'cheering squad' for the time being.
He can't still use the 'Spirit Release' because it is still in cooldown for 2-hours.
"So this place is turned into a ruin and transformed into an 'Opened Dungeon'. And since I am the first visitor, there should be a lot of monsters bosses here. I should pick up the face before other people discovered this place." said Shin to himself while looking at to sea of monsters not far from him.
In «Destiny's Fate» online there are two types of dungeons. They are the Instance Dungeon and Open Dungeon.
The 'Instance Dungeon' is your typical dungeon, where players can farm materials, items and EXP. It can be a 'one-time' or a 'multiple entry' type of dungeon.
It can also be categorized as a 'solo', 'team', and a 'raid' types of dungeon.
A 'solo dungeon' is as the name implies. It can be only cleared by a single person.
Meanwhile, the 'team dungeon' is divided into multiple types. It can be a '5-man team dungeon', a '10-man team dungeon', a '20-man team dungeon', a '50-man team dungeon' and a '100-man team' dungeon. The higher the number of players, the harder to clear the dungeon.
Next is the 'raid' type dungeons, and they are even more harder, because it can only be cleared by an expedition team composed of a 200 and above number of players.
And on 'Instance Dungeons', you can also set the difficulty of the dungeon that you are going to enter. And those are 'Normal', 'Hard', 'Master', 'Nightmare', 'Abyss', 'Hell', and 'Chaos' difficulties. The higher the difficulty the better the reward you can get.
On the other hand, 'Open Dungeons' are a bit special because it can be find everywhere. And unlike the 'Instance Dungeon' where you and your team are going to be sent to an independent place/world where no other teams can bother you, 'Open Dungeon' can be entered by everyone at the same time, since it is a part of the main world.
While the difficulties of these 'Open Dungeons' are fix from dungeon to dungeon.
...
"The monsters here are quite strong, and most of them are in packs of Level 75 Special Elites with a Chieftain as their head. Heh, good thing that they are Corrupted beings." muttered Shin as he take a look at the monsters at the distance.
"Tsk, the more I look at my Quest, the more I feel that there is something fishy on it. First, What did the Royal Chalice doing on this kind of place. Another thing is why did the King need to arrange an army, just to retrieve it here. And now, this place didn't look like a place attacked by a 'Monster Horde', it's more like a nest of Corrupted Beings." said Shin to himself as he check the details of his quest.
He have some doubt on his Main Quest in the very first place. And that doubt become even more distinct once he come across the previous Village Chief of the Calderock Village.
Few moments later, Shin give up thinking about it. "Nah! I should stop thinking about that since I can't figure out the answers yet. It is better if I just start grinding EXP now, or else I'll waste the bonus EXP Boost and the 'x2 drop rate'."
But before Shin sprints towards the nearest monster pack he suddenly remembered something. "Wait! If this is a new 'Open Dungeon', then that means the King Class monster of this place is still alive. No, maybe it is even an 'Overlord' since this place is quite big."
After that, Shin take a look at one of his equipment's skill.
------------------
Savage Bite(Active): Sacrifice 5% of your HP to Attack your enemy with a powerful strike, devouring 10% of their HP.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
----------------
Shin take a good look on that skill for at least 2 minutes before muttering to himself. "Hmm... Didn't this skill is a little OP? No! this skill can already be consider a BUG. Should I report it to the System?"
'A King Class Monster and an Overlord Monster. And then, this BUG Skill.' While muttering those words, an idea suddenly entered his mind. Shin stroke his chin with his right hand while grinning evilly. "Heh, so what if you can punished me System? Just how can reject this kind of opportunity? Didn't there is a saying 'Grab every opportunity that is coming your way, or else you are going to regret it in the future."
Shin's 'Battle Genius Mentality' kicked in once again, so Shin gritted his teeth and formed a determined face before saying. "Hah! I take care of that problem later. For now, it is time to get back to work."
*******
Real World, Soaring Continent
Central District, Capital City, Springfield Household
While Shin is busy dealing with his things inside the game, Arthur is currently meditating inside his room.
Boom!
A silent explosion explode inside Arthur's body. What comes after that is a gusting Force of Nature rushing towards his body.
Huu~
Few moments later, Arthur breath out a bunch of golden smoke. Then, he smirks after that. "Heh, I finally formed my 'Dragon Core'. I look forward to Shin's reaction when he learned about it."
Springfield Family Bloodline is quite special compared to other common Bloodlines. And every cultivation breakthrough on their Martial-Arts is also stronger than the others because of it, but it is also makes their breakthrough a little harder.
One of those advantages, is their 'Golden Core'. The 'Golden Core' of Springfield Family is twice as the size of other people's 'Golden Core'. And the internal 'Qi' that it being release is also much stronger than the normal internal Qi. The Springfield Family members are addressing their 'Golden Core' as 'Dragon Core', mostly because of their Bloodline came from a powerful Ancient Dragon.
"OK, maybe I should invite that guy with a sparing match. Heh, I'm pretty sure that I can wipe the floor with his *ss this time." said Arthur before jumping out his bed.
And the moment he got out his room, he bumped into a slim and handsome middle age man. This guy have very powerful aura, when someone looked at him they might think that they are looking at a real dragon.
This guy is 'Nathan Springfield', the greatest genius that the Springfield Family ever produced on his generation, and that is before the emergence of Arthur and Shiella. He is currently standing at the peak of 'Domain Realm' and also one of the candidates that is close to reaching the 'Transcendent Realm'.
He have the title of 'Dragon King' inside the Martial-Art Circle and is very famous around the world.
"Uncle Nathan!" Arthur immediately greeted the man when he saw him.
Nathan nodded his head and said to Arthur smilingly. "Hm. You already formed your 'Dragon Core'? Good! I'm about to ask you about that. OK, go pack your things and get ready yourself."
"Eh!? What for, uncle?" asked Arthur confusedly.
"Heh, what for? I'm going to take you somewhere for your special training." Nathan smirks at Arthur.
"Huh, But.... How about Shin?" said Arthur.
Nathan laughed softly when he heard that because he can clearly read what's in Arthur's mind. "Hahaha.... You want to ask him for a sparring match? Is it because you think that you already have the advantage, just because you have already formed your 'Dragon Core'? Heh, Too bad for you, I've head from Dad that Shin already became a Dual-Practioner just recently."
Arthur become startled because of that. "What!? D*mn! that guy sure knows how to hide a secret. He have gone ahead at me once again!"
Nathan sneered and said. "That is why, you go pack your things now. Another thing, If you manage finish this training, maybe you can also undergo your Bloodline Ceremony. That is if you don't want to be left behind too much by Shin. After all, I've also heard that Old Plum is also preparing a special training for Shin."
Then, Arthur immediately entered his room once again, to prepare some things.
*******
Somewhere in the Central City.
A fifteen year old boy is running on a secluded street. From the looks of it, this boy is quite familiar on this place, it's like he knows the place like the back of his hand. But even though that is the case, the boy is still running anxiously as if he is running away for his life.
The boy have a curly hair in red color. He have the average height for someone at his age. The built of his body is quite slim, but his muscles are hiding a powerful strength on them. This guy is Leonard Fireheart.
Leonard is walking on the street of the City and about to go back to his home when he felt that there are people trailing behind him. He tried to shake them off many times, but they always manage to find him time and time again.
He also brought them to a secluded place and tried to get rid of them, but these guys strength were almost the same as him. If not for his recent breakthrough to the late phase of 'Qi Refinement Stage' and his experiences on the street, he may have been beaten up by these guy already.
Leonard quickly escape when he felt that the situation is not on his side. And during his escape, he also heard that these guys are planning to capture him alive. He don't know why these guys are chasing him and want to capture him, but there is one thing that he know, he can't let these guys have their plan or else there are some dire consequence for him if they manage to do so.
He tried to contact Shin and Arthur many times earlier. But unfortunately for him, those two are quite busy on things on their side.
"F*ck! Why of all times?" Leonard cursed to himself as run on the streets. "Tsk, looks like I'm in bad luck this time. No matter what I do these guys are going to catch up on me sooner or later. I guess I have no choice but to gamble on those two to find me later."
Leonard find some place to hide and dialed a number on his Advance Watch. And after few rings, the person on the other side answered the call.
Swoosh!
A virtual screen appeared in front of Leonard and show a cute nine year old girl. She have the same red curly hair as Leonard, some features on their faces are quite similar too. When the girl saw Leonard on the screen, she smiled cutely and said. "Big brother, are you on your way home yet? The dinner is ready." It turns out that the girl on the other side of the line is Leonard's little sister.
Leonard smiled at the girl affectionately and said. "Sorry Laura, I can't get home for now. There are some things that I need to do on work."
Laura pout cutely and said with a little disappointment. "Hmph. Work. Work again! you are always like that! But didn't you stopped doing sideline jobs since you started playing that game? Why are you on a job again?
"Heh, didn't I already have told you that I need to do some sideline jobs from time to time, so that I can do some physical exercises?" replied Leonard nonchalantly. Then, he added after that. "OK, OK, let's forget about that. I'm going to give you a special job. And if you manage to do it, I'm going to give you an extra allowance for a month. How does that sound?"
Laura's eyes become bright when she heard that, then she ask about it excitedly. "Really!? Then shoot! Quickly tell me what is it."
Leonard chuckled softly before replying. "Hehe... Quite excited, Huh? OK, here is the thing. Go to Shin and Arthur's place and say this to them, 'A lion cub was cornered and about get captured by a bunch of hyenas, go to the bottom of the mountain called lake to search for it'. Did you get it?"
Laura is muttering what Leonard have said while writing it on the paper. Then, she look at virtual screen in front her while saying. "Yup! I've got it. But what's with this strange phases? They looks so weird."
"Good! Just tell them to Shin or Arthur, and they will know what to do. OK, that's it. I need to hang up now and get back to work." said Leonard briefly before ending the call.
Bang!
After that, he heard someone sent the door flying. Looks like the other party have found him already.
"Tsk, looks like there is nothing I can do about my current situation. Heh, since you want to do this the hard way, then I'm going to give it to you." thought Leonard to himself as he wait for his pursuers to get a little more nearer to him.
Few moments later, Leonard jump out from his hiding place and send a knee strike on one of his pursuers, causing for that guy to be knocked down on the ground.
"OK! Now, let us see what you are really made off!" Leonard yelled at the other party. Then, a chaotic battle started after that.
.....
Meanwhile, on the other side of the call, Laura's face suddenly become tense when she saw her brother ended the call.
"Stup*d Big Brother! Did he really think that I'm still a kid that can be tricked easily? From his tone alone, I can easily tell that he is in deep trouble! Hmph!" said Laura to herself while puffing up her cheeks.
Actually, Laura very smart kid. In fact, she is an honor student at school. Since her brother is always doing some extra job to support her education, she decided to focus on her studies so that she can help her brother in the future.
Since she was an infant, her big brother was the one that was always supporting and taking care of her. As for their parents? Nothing special, their mother died after giving birth to her, while their father become addicted to gambling and died because of failing to pay a huge amount of debt. And what is the worst part on it is those debts were passed down to Leonard and Laura.
After that, the two of them lived their lives like it is some sort of hell. And aside from supporting Laura's studies, Leonard almost worked himself to death just to pay a little part of their father's debt.
They thought that they are going live like that forever. But one day, their lives changed. That was when Shin and Arthur entered their lives. What comes after that is what you currently know.
.....
Then after throwing some tantrum, Laura started to panic once again. "But... But.... How can I contact Big Bro Shin and Big Brother Arthur if even my Big Brother can't contact them? No, No, No, Big Brother said that I need to go to Big Bro Shin's place to pass the message. But how can I get in there? That place is restricted only to Springfield Family's personnels. Ahh!!!.... I can't think of anything!"
Laura is walking back-and-fort like some kind of grown up, as she is thinks about what she is going to do.
After few moments of internal struggle, Laura took a deep before finally bracing herself and dialed a number that she really didn't want to call. "Hmph! If not for Big Brother being in trouble, I'm not going to call this succubus."
....