Due to his hasty departure, after he left the blacksmith's location, Fatty suddenly remembered that he had actually forgotten to forge his staff!
This was truly a tragedy. At the time, many people had eyed him covetously, as he was the only person who could forge a Level 10 weapon. As a result, Fatty had spent the day-night transition helping to forge the dagger. Instead of disgracing himself, he had made a small name for himself. However, despite this good start, he hadn't had a chance to forge his staff.
If he went back to forge his staff now, he supposed the group of players at the blacksmith's location would kill him with their sorrowful gazes. Fatty eventually decided to put that off.
It was hard to obtain a Weapon Crafting Blueprint above Level 10 now. Since the staff was his weapon, he should forge a better one. Anyway, he could still make do with the novice staff. A Venomancer relied on their toxin effect skills, not magic attack power. He would forge the next night. During this period, he would complete quests and kill monsters to level up. At the same time, he would see if he could find a party to go to the novice-level dungeon with.
In the Chaotic Era, there were many occasions to clear dungeons, to the extent that even four years later, nobody would dare say that they had finished all the dungeons!
Due to the camps in the game, different camps would have different content in the dungeons. A player had calculated in the past that according to the map of the game so far, all the dungeons of the Holy Order Assembly and the Dark Council Camps added up to 2,416, excluding the high-level maps that players had yet to open up. The higher the level of the map, the more dungeons there were!
Yes. The maps in the Chaotic Era were shockingly a lot. The infinite possibilities were one of the points that attracted players to the game.
Because he had chosen the Holy Order Assembly Camp in the past, Fatty's Berserker at the time had played several times to clear the dungeons. They had been too advanced and he had needed a combination of good equipment and good friends. He hadn't acquired them, but he had still gone through the dungeons many times. Now that he had changed camp and chosen the Dark Council, the dungeon content would naturally be completely different as well. It could be said that these dungeons were still unknown, so Fatty was even more drawn to them.
After he exited the Demon City Ruins of Asgarod, Fatty's main quest arrived. He had to find NPC Runtzel in Asgarod City. When Fatty had arrived in the city, he had gone to learn life skills. Thus, he had yet to complete that quest. Since he now planned to work hard to level up, after Fatty found Asgarod's location on the map, he hurriedly went over through the teleportation portal.
After arriving, he suddenly realized that Runtzel's location was actually at the core of the Dark Council Camp!
The Supreme Presbyterian Church was an incomparably lofty shrine at the spatial height of Fatty's study. Surprisingly, the projector could not display it fully. However, the sight of it was still enough to make Fatty feel shocked.
The staircase had thousands of steps and was actually paved with countless black Shadow Stones. In the game, the Shadow Stone was a gem embedded in weapons to enhance their dark stat damage. It was also embedded in armor to enhance its dark magic resistance. It could be regarded as a very useful gem. Thousands of flights of steps were actually paved with this gem! Its extravagance shocked the world.
As he walked up these extravagant steps, Fatty was enveloped by the light refracted from the Shadow Stones under his feet. He realized that his character had surprisingly obtained 200% of the full stats enhancement. He knew that this was an exclusive bonus effect of the Presbyterian Discussion Shrine area. Once he left, this effect would be gone.
With every few steps he took up the staircase, he saw a gruesome gargoyle statue on each side. The gargoyles were always watching every player who went up the steps with their empty, cold eyes. Many players were going to the Presbyterian Shrine to accept quests, but watching these players whispering among themselves and pointing at the gargoyles, Fatty knew that they were definitely like him. They felt uncomfortable being stared at by these gargoyles.
After climbing up the steps with difficulty, he finally arrived at the main entrance of the shrine. Just like other players, Fatty was stopped by the NPC guard at the entrance.
These guards were all Death Knights above Level 140 and came from the Apostle Race. They were also twice as tall as the players. Therefore, the players who came here had to look up to see their faces. They were wearing thick black armor forged from an unknown material that was a pure black color. Sometimes, they could see black mist coming out of their armor, making them look really strange and fierce. The Death Knight guards had a huge heavy sword in front of them covered with a sawtooth sword blade that was embedded with a skull pattern. The empty eyes stared at the players, sending chills down their spines.
In front of the controller, Fatty watched the Death Knights guarding the Presbyterian Shrine tightly and couldn't help but swallow.
Level 140! God, such a Death Knight could probably kill all the players of Asgarod many times over without sustaining any injuries…
"Young Apostle clansman, state your purpose for coming!" the NPC who stopped Fatty said coldly. "This is the Supreme Presbyterian Church. If you don't have a valid reason for coming, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Unlike players who used the electroencephalogram connectors and only needed to say the word Runtzel, Fatty, who used the holographic access device, still got a dialog box prompt when interacting with the NPC.
Even though this method had been almost eliminated, the Chaotic Era was compatible with using the electroencephalogram or hologram to access the game. This was meant to take care of players like Fatty, who were still using holographic devices.
Some people might say that dialog boxes were less convenient than direct speech. Yes, direct speech was indeed more convenient, but one couldn't say that it was convenient for the whole process. In the Chaotic Era, there were many quests with decryptions. When Fatty had gone into the dungeon, he had encountered an Elite monster guard. That monster would make a player solve a riddle. If the player guessed right, he would directly pass and there would be a lot of time left. However, if the player couldn't guess right, he would have to fight with that Elite monster. If players using electroencephalogram access devices encountered such a situation, they could only rely on their own wisdom to guess. On the other hand, players using holographic devices would receive a pop-up dialog box and would be asked to choose the answer. Although there were many confusing options, the correct answer was definitely included. This way, the player's guess would be narrowed down a lot, which was very helpful to pass the level.
Therefore, both access methods had their own advantages, and none of them could be considered better than the other. After all, so-called high-tech might not necessarily be more useful than old technology sometimes.
It was just like a hundred years ago, when genetically-modified crops had first appeared. Hadn't many people been afraid to try to use them as food?
In Fatty's opinion, there was no difference between the two methods of playing the game. He felt that if he really controlled the virtual keyboard the same as the players who used electroencephalogram access, that would be awesome!
After he chose the option 'I want to meet Lord Runtzel', the Death Knight guard turned sideways slightly and allowed Fatty in.
NPC Runtzel was one of the thirteen Elder members of the Dark Council's Supreme Presbyterian Church. Furthermore, he was also an NPC of the Apostle Race, just like Fatty. According to the historical background officially given by the Chaotic Era, Elder Runtzel used to be a noble prince in the Imperial Court of Doom and was one of the few surviving Elders with pure royal Demon Clan lineage. During the centuries of war with the Holy Order Assembly, the descendants of the Demon Clan and the Apostle Race had been led by him. His greatest wish was to look for and find the royal descendant of the Demon Clan lost in the war at the time, the Prince of the Imperial Court of Doom: Gadrio!
Fatty met him in the study, which was the temple for Runtzel. When he met him, the system controlled Fatty's character, making him get down on one knee and piously pay this man, His Royal Highness who was the Prince of an honorable bloodline, the greatest respect.
This was an old Apostle NPC. Besides his purple-red eyes, he had white hair and a faint hunchback. He didn't seem at all like someone from the Demon Clan.
"Get up, boy!" Runtzel said. "It seems like you just went through the Coming of Age and walked out of the Demon City Isengard. Am I right?"
"The war with the Holy Order Assembly has exhausted us, but there is now unexpectedly the Chaos Corps!" Runtzel said with a frown. "These demons are more bloodthirsty than the Demon Clan. Nobody knows where they came from. We only know that they came from another space through the spatial rift and reached this world, bringing endless destruction. Even the last of our defense, Asgarod, can see their figures from time to time!"
"The Dark Council needs fresh blood like you to replenish our power!" Runtzel raised his head. "The war with the Holy Order Assembly will never stop, and neither will the struggle with the Chaos Corps. Increase your strength as quickly as possible. The future of the Dark Council will rest on your shoulders!"
After a large part of the dialogue was finished, Fatty finally heard the system prompt.
"You gained 5 Reputation Points with the Dark Council Camp!"
"Your
Yes. Although this quest was an introduction to the background of the game, it was actually compulsory. Only after completing this quest could the player open the PK mode!
[0] Player Killing