Night Core, a powerful item used to contain a vast amount of mana. This core is the heart of a powerful demon called Midnight Demon. (Who could have slain a demon in this game? Definitely not the NPCs, right?) Usually, a powerful demon is a final boss in the VR game.
Well, everything was just a guess. She needed to be mentally prepared. How would a Night Core appear in this remote residential area? Or could it be that a demon was hiding in the pit? "OMG! Could it be a hidden dungeon?" She shook her head. "No, no... It's impossible, to begin with, since this is just a beginner's town, right?" Blumock was having a slight headache thinking about these things.
***
Before venturing into Sienen, she used her points to increase her agility and strength stats. That made her feel a little better.
Blumock threw a few light sticks in the pit to illuminate the area. These things were simple magical items she borrowed from the guild's warehouse. (These things look like the ones used in concerts in real life. Although these are much brighter.) There were still no movements inside the hole. No sound, too. For now, she's safe, she thought. She tied herself with a rope and secured the other end by the well's post. The rope made her weight 50% less. She carefully hoisted herself down in the pit. She already conditioned herself to not be frightened. (This is just a game. If I get into an accident here, I could just resurrect.) She took a bottle of mana potion to recover her MP.
"I feel like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. Hehehe."
She checked the area and found a passage. She threw some more light sticks to this dark passage. "Huh? A pathway. It does not look like a natural path. This is definitely created," she observed.
[Ting.]
[Your Insight leveled up.]
She slowly walked, touching the cold wall. The air was getting denser and it was getting colder. The passageway was longer than she thought. It was a good thing she was given a lot of light sticks. (As expected from a high-level custodian in the guild!) As she trod on a descending path, the opening became wider until she reached a spacious cavern. "Who would have thought that there's a place like this here? Five Boeing aircraft can fit in here for sure." She tried to sense if there was a living creature inside. Still none. The mana flow was shifting and going to one corner. "An artifact or a night core, that is the question. Let's find out."
"Huh? Why is there a skeleton in here?" She became cautious. "Is this skeleton absorbing the mana?" There were many possibilities in her mind. Since she was a manga artist, she was already guessing it correctly. "Could it be that the skeleton is trying to resurrect? Is this skeleton a lich?" She covered her mouth with a sudden realization. She promptly jumped back. Potion! "I need to take MP potions."
A curdling voice hovered in the air. "How nice of you to drop by..." A light flashed on the skeleton's eye sockets. "Fresh and young. Your body...I need it. Give it to me."
Although Maria was aware that this was just a game, she still felt spooked because the game was life-like. The undead was something that could make one's hair stand. Goosebumps! When the skeleton started to shift, Maria froze. "Aargh!!! So creepy--"
"I need a vessel...your body...offer it to me..."
The lich's voice was getting to her mind. She had an ominous feeling about this. "No! Why should I give you my body? And why are you stealing people's mana? The dead should stay dead!"
"Fireball!" Just like that, no incantation or anything, it attacked Blumock.
Maria was hit and she was blown away. Good thing she had a necklace that gave her fire resistance, yet she received huge damage. The lich was not strong enough to cast a full spell. Had it been a full attack, she would have been instantly decimated. She immediately took several HP potions to fill her HP gauge.
"That's just a warning. I could not afford to damage the body that I am going to take as my vessel. Surrender to me."
"Umm, no way!" She cast her only offensive skill. "Power strike!" Her attack didn't do anything to the undead. She used her skill again, but the lich countered with another fireball. Blumock was hit but the spell was not as powerful as the first one. She immediately took some HP potions again. At this rate, she might use up all al her potions.
The lich laughed eerily. "Do you think you can defeat me with your puny strength? Just offer your body to me so I can put it to good use."
"Heh! You can't do that; I am a player here and you are an NPC! I will just log out if you threaten me again." Maria said.
"A player? Hah! I have heard of that before. Do you think this is just a game?" said the lich.
"Of course, it is. If it's not, then I wouldn't be here. I am only interested in the game," she said smugly.
"Then tell me, where are the other players?"
"Duh? I am playing offline mode," she smirked. (Am I really having this conversation with a lich? Nice one, Peter! Humor me more.)
The lich laughed again which sounded really creepy. "Do you know that our creator gave us free will in this world? Don't you think it was odd I am conversing with you this way? As a powerful royal sorcerer, I found it too unusual not to control everything. There was something that I could not fathom, so I did my own research. And what did I find out? The creator is a player. He lied about free will! I broke away from his control... and I became free!"
(Damn you, Peter! Next time make the dialog kid-friendly.) She snorted. "I do not understand your cryptic shenanigans. Everything you said was just gibberish to me. If there is a skip button for this dialog, I would have pressed it already, okay? So, all I need is for you to stop stealing mana from others."
"Fool!"
True to his word, the undead used to be a high-level royal sorcerer in his prime but because he tried to learn forbidden magic to break away from the creator's control, he became corrupted. Before he died, he cast a powerful spell on a night core that he obtained from killing a Midnight Demon. It has been sucking mana continuously. He would need a large pool of mana to resurrect. So he made the night core insatiable. This dead sorcerer had been hiding in this cavern, waiting for someone to come and make it as a vessel of his soul. Yet he waited in vain. No one would come since people collapse due to drained mana. As time passed by, his flesh withered and became a lich. And now, a good candidate came.
Maria noticed the glowing core that the lich was holding. "Is that a night core?"
"At least you have one thing right. Surrender to me now."
"Nope. I am going to rip that night core away from you. It looks like you could not cast a spell without it. I got it right, right?" She immediately used her concealment skill and quietly approached the lich to steal the night core.
"Burst of fire!"
Maria's concealment got cancelled. Her location was revealed. She was hit by the spell and continuous damage was now attacking her. She coughed up some blood. "Tsk! An AOE!"
While evading, she consumed her HP potions so she would not die. "I don't think I can win this with my level now. Even if the lich is in a weak state, I am still no match." She sighed. She was just being realistic. (Can I just abandon this quest?) She was having second thoughts. She tried to logout.
[You cannot log out from a dungeon.]
"A dungeon?! This is just a pit! A crack!" she complained unreasonably. "No wonder this lich is powerful. To think I entered a boss room. This is suicidal!"
She reached a safe distance where the lich would not attack her. It was good that the pit was spacious. She sat down and studied the lich instead. She waited until the continuous damage effect disappear. "Anyway, there's no time limit to complete this dungeon."
She tried to analyze the situation. (Why didn't it attack me consecutively with spells? With two hits I will be done for. Easy kill. Oh, right, it said it needed my body so probably that thing doesn't want to damage my body. Also, could it be that there's a CD before it can cast another spell? That's probably it.)
Blumock noticed the mana suction stopped. Instead, the skeleton was now absorbing mana from that bright round core it was holding. The first fireball spell was stronger than the second. "Maybe the mana was enough on his second attack. Because it was a counterattack. Or it didn't absorb enough mana to cast a full spell. If I can get that thing off from the skeleton, there is a chance it will just collapse and turn to dust."
[Your Insight leveled up.]
(Oh? Is the system giving me a hint?) She decided to test the CD needed in between spells of the lich. Although she might die in the process, that was a risk she's willing to take. (If I am unfortunate, I will just resurrect in the town anyway, right?) What Maria didn't know was this was an anomaly. She would no longer be resurrected in the game if she would die in this cavern.