Chapter 22. Great rewards
The item drops from a boss monster will differ from time to time. It was all about luck.
As Ian was the first one to kill Krysil, the drops he received were much better. It was to the point that Ian was beaming with a smile all over his face.
Krysil dropped many items, but three of them were prominent to him.
Firstly, Ian examined the necklace, the most expensive-looking of the lot.
* * *
-Rating: Rare
-Effects: Main stats+3, Attack speed+25, Agility+10
-Requirements: Level 30, Agility+25
-Durability: 250/250
A necklace embedded with the demonic essence of the Demonic bat boss. It had red engravings on it, and one could feel the soul of Krysil within it.
*As it has a fragment of Krysil's soul, one can use his special skill while equipping it.
Ultrasonic wave: The target will start to get confused once hit by this wave. There is a small chance that he will begin to hallucinate.
* * *
'It will sell at a high price.'
Not only was the necklace was of a rare grade, it also had a special ability. Just the special ability was enough for it to sell at a high price.
Ian could use the necklace for himself as he was close to level 30, but the reason he was playing the game was to earn money.
He was only thinking about profit.
After putting away the necklace, Ian examined the next item.
* * *
< Krysil's leather armor>
-Rating: Rare
-Effects: Defence+20, Magic resistance+13, Resistance to mind attacks
-Requirements: Level 35, Mental+15
-Durability: 300/300
The armor made by the leather of Krysil. It has a red pattern on it, and it has a high defense. It can easily block the attacks of a sword or a spear.
Moreover, it provides resistance to mind attacks. As it provides warmth, it's best for the wintertime travelers.
* * *
Pretty good armor!!
But because of the level restriction, he couldn't equip it right away.
Well, Ian was planning to sell it away anyway. It was just that he would need a good armor in the future as his beginner equipment as lost all of its durability.
It was his a piece of junk now!
After that, Ian examined the last item that highly intrigued him. It was the soul of Krysil.
* * *
< Krysil's soul>
Rating: Rare
The very essence of the demonic ability that Krysil bore. Permanently increases agility by 3. It also increases magic Resistance by 1%.
* * *
Souls were a type of consumable item that permanently increased one's stats. They were usually the item drops of boss monsters.
One can only consume the soul if he has defeated the boss. That's why Ian can't sell the soul even if he wants to.
'It's all mine.'
The soul looked like a green grape candy, and it tasted like one too. Ian gulped it down whole, and his body shone for a second.
After examining the prominent items, there were still some items left like the fangs of Krysil. Still, Ian was not going to sell them.
He had other plans for it.
"It's time to search the boss room."
Ian muttered to himself as he started searching the boss room for some vacant items.
'Hidden dungeons are like a dragon's lair!'
Boss monsters collected gold, valuable gemstones, and materials.
Like a dragon's lair!
So what would happen if he defeated the boss of a hidden dungeon, one who'd never been discovered and had been continuously building its hoard?
He would be left with a fortune, like right now!
That's why users called hidden dungeons a gold mine; clearing them was just like striking gold.
Ian was one such person who'd happened to strike gold.
There are many times when a player would find a unique item in the boss room after defeating the boss, but it was really rare.
Typically, one would only find stuff like some gold coins or some weapons. Ian was also not lucky enough to find a good item.
'There is only this much.'
Sigh!
Ian sighed, holding 10 gold coins in his hand. It was the amount he had found after searching the boss room for 20 minutes.
It was a lot, but Ian was still expecting something like a rare grade item.
'I should not be so greedy.'
Ian consoled himself by thinking that. As he was about to leave the boss room, he suddenly noticed something strange from the corner of his eyes.
His intuition pointed him towards a wall formed of bark. It was telling him that the wall itself was suspicious and that there was something behind it.
'Is there something there?'
Ian brushed the bark wall with the palm of his hand.
He felt two different feelings from the wall.
First was merely the dry exterior of the bark wall. On the other hand, he felt that it was extremely sturdy.
'There's something wrong with it.'
To make sure that his intuition was right, Ian swung the Thales spear at the solid wall. He first swung it horizontally and then ended it up with a vertical strike.
Kwang! Kya!
What he'd once thought was a bark wall rushed towards him. It happened so suddenly that his hair bristled.
"The hell!?"
Ian instinctively backed off, and what he saw surprised him. There was a hidden space behind the bark wall, and there was a thing lying there.
"What is an egg doing there?"
Ian rubbed his eyes to confirm again, and there was really an egg lying there. It has some strange moon-like patterns on it, and it was white.
He slowly picked it up and examined it.
It was a pet egg, which is one of the rare items found in Ark!
"Jackpot!!"
Ian couldn't help but shout after finding the egg. His excitement showed no bound.
He even started to dance with the egg in his hand. It was good that there were no other people in the boss room, or Ian would have made an embarrassment out of himself.
Him dancing with an egg in his hand was already a ridiculous sight in itself, but Ian was too happy to care about any such thing.
* * *
Tang Xiyi felt like she was on top of the world when she got the notice that her application had passed through. She was an official employee in the world-famous Pegasus corporation.
She was grinning from ear to ear on her first day of work, wearing the best clothes she could find in her closet and even applied makeup on her face.
'My dreams will finally come true.'
With a high salary and prestige of working in a world-famous corporation, Tang Xiyi felt like her dream life will start from now on.
There was just one thing that was bothering her.
It was the looks of pity she got from her coworkers on her first day of work.
She felt that something was wrong. It was like she had won a lottery, but there was a chance of it being a scam. That was the feeling she felt.
"It was all a big scam!!"
Tang Xiyi muttered as she slammed her fingers on the keyboard.
Her expression and face were completely different than before. Her hair was messy, and there was no makeup on her face.
There were even dark circles under her eyes, which were already red. Her eyes were desperately screaming that they needed sleep.
But she couldn't sleep yet.
It was because there was a lot of work to do. At this point, she even felt like she was a fool for thinking that her dream life would begin soon.
More than a dream, it was a nightmare. An utterly dark nightmare!!
A job in a world-famous corporation like Pegasus corporation gives you high salary and prestige. Still, it deprives you of a single thing.
Sleep!
There was no sleep for this job. Ark's servers were open for 24 hours a day. It means a lot of work, and Tang Xiyi was sleeping less than 6 hours a day.
The worst thing was that her boyfriend had broken up with her recently, giving her the premise that she was not spending much time with him.
Due to the extensive work, she doesn't even have time to cry over her breakup. It was a life full of misery.
It was to the point that she was considering leaving this job, but the high salary was stopping her from doing that.
She was also expecting a small promotion next month. So, she can't help but be greedy and push herself to the brink of no sleep.
Like always, she was pushing herself to the brink and observing. She was a part of the monitoring team, and her job was to monitor hidden dungeons and areas.
"Oh! The hidden dungeon in the Grenuo forest had been discovered!!"
She moved her fingers quickly, and on her screen appeared the face of the man who was climbing the steep cliff with conviction.
Moreover, he was even fighting the Flame winged birds simultaneously.
"Who is he?"
Tang Xiyi muttered as she continued to stare at the screen.
She had never seen that player before, but from watching him, she knew that he was a skilled fighter. More than skilled, he looked like someone who fights monsters every day.
'Maybe he's a survival specialist.'
That thought appeared in her mind, but the appearance of the player was young. He looked like a university student.
One can change his appearance somewhat in Ark, but it was no to the point that one will look immensely handsome. It would make just a small difference.
So, Tang Xiyi was sure that the player was young.
She kept on looking at him. Him finding the hidden dungeon and even the fight with the Demonic bag boss, Krysil.
While watching the fight, she even cheering him inside her heart and felt bad for him when he lost the battle.
'Well, hunting a boss alone isn't easy.'
She thought that and started monitoring other areas around the Grenuo forest, completely forgetting about the player.
But after a week, she again found him inside the Demonic bat cave.
'He's back again, and he is still alone.'
She thought that the player would come back with a party or something, but he was still alone. Maybe, he liked to hunt alone.
Tang Xiyi wanted to see what he could do.
That's why she continued to watch his fight. She felt that he was a lot stronger than before and that his fights against the demonic bats were getting easier.
'The main fight is starting.'
Tang Xiyi was excited when the player entered the boss room. She felt that she was only missing popcorn.
Fights in Ark were nothing less than a big-budget action fantasy movie. So, people would get excited just by observing them.
Tang Xiyi was the same.
As the fight progressed, it got more intense, and Tang Xiyi was on her toes, wanting to know if the player would be able to defeat Krysil or not.
'He's in a pinch.'
She thought as she saw that Krysil was becoming berserk. She felt that there was no chance that the player will win, but something unexpected happened.
"What's that move!?"
She said in a raised voice. It was to the point that the employee behind her gave her a strange look, but she ignored it and focused on the move.
The move was rapid, and it may look easy at a glance but, Tang Xiyi was someone who was monitoring players for months. She can easily see through the skill.
'He made an original skill just like that!!'
She was more shocked when she saw that Origin had approved of the move as a skill.
At that moment, there was just one thought inside her head.
'Who the hell is he?'
She was already too shocked by the fight, but it hadn't ended yet. She saw the player examining the item drops and then looking around the boss room.
The most shocking part of it was when the player miraculously found a hidden space and got the pet egg.
Tang Xiyi glanced at the name of the player and embedded him in her mind. Then, she stood up and directly went inside the manager's office.
"What happened, Tang Xiyi?"
The manager looked at her from the corner of his eyes, but he continued to keep working. He didn't feel that there would be something that needs his attention.
But Tang Xiyi's next words surprised him.
"I think I found a player that can be an abnormality."
"What did you said? Another abnormality!!"
Abnormality!!
It was the term that was used for players who even the A.I. program Origin can't gauge. They were the most unpredictable bunch of people.
More than unpredictable, they were monsters in human skins!!
It was the moment when the player called Ian came into the view of the monitoring team.