[Exit Game?]
[Yes]/[No]
As Primus exited the game, his consciousness was transported from the depths of a desolate carven to an all-encompassing field of whiteness. He couldn't contain his curiousity anymore, so he called up his status.
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Primus' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets by the time he was done inspecting his status. He had noticed several changes to both his status and the interactive interface displaying it. The most shocking of which was not his evolved Class, additional level, or new abilities, but his affinity. An interesting requirement a player was required to possess to be recruited into a guild was their affinity. Primus did not possess an affinity when he requested to join the Occam's Razor Guild, but fortunately, Samane, the guild leader, took a liking to him. An affinity granted a wielder power derived from their element which was entirely dependent on its strength. What that meant for Primus was that once he reached level 20 and the Skill Tree became accessible, he would be able to cast spells, and powerful ones at that.
He possessed an affinity for the ether element; the supposed building block of the fabric of reality, and thus, his spells could possibly grant him spacial manipulation. It was extremely convenient for his current endeavor to seal the spacial rift. As it was, Primus doubted he would need the mid-tier Spacial Seal anymore.
'I'll still purchase one, just in case.'
The interactive interface changed from its generic blue color to placid black, similarly to how the Improvement Crystal had reacted when Primus touched it. There were additional features that Primus had yet to explore unavailable to him before he absorbed the crystal. He was also as powerful as a level 18 player now, and his two racial abilities seemed to have merged together to become an ability greater than the sum of its parts.
[Equip your avatar?]
[Yes]/[No]
Primus equipped his avatar with the intent to try out his new abilities. He summoned the Shadow Blade and went into Practice Mode.
[Practice Mode Activated]
The neverending whiteness was replaced by a different scene. A dilapidated temple with tall trees and crushed pavements smeared with dry blood came into view. Primus saw the rotten cadavers of several bald haired monks propped against the mossy temple walls in the lotus position.
As he took a step forward, the corpses came to life and lunged at him. Primus refrained from using the Shadow Blade and instead tested his new abilities. He activated the
Another monk stabbed at him with a knife, but Primus evaded the attack with the Ghost Steps, leaving behind mirages in the process. He delivered a roundhouse kick to the monk's head and swept his leg in reverse, causing the monk to fall on its brethren.
From what Primus could tell, the additional bonus to his stats was nothing to laugh at. His simple punches tore through the undead's flesh and bone alike, and his kicks sent them flying.
'Time to end this.'
Primus summoned the Shadow Blade in its short sword form and beheaded an attacking monk before sperating another's arms from the rest of its body. He evaded their attacks with Ghost Steps and continued his wanton slaughter.
His Ghost Body continuously aided him in avoiding serious wounds as well as creating the perfect openings for counterattacks.
By the time Primus exited Practice Mode, he had successfully integrated his new abilities into his fighting style. He still had a lot of progress to make, but that could wait.
Primus hadn't actually forgotten about his V-anchor back in the Desolate Carven, he just wanted Randall to believe that he had so that when he exited the game, he could respawn back at the encampment. He didn't trust Randall and wanted to confirm from Elder Yelena if he was actually a member of the Thunderbird's Guild. There were many reasons for doing so, chief among them being that he could potentially fool Randall into getting him to the spacial rift without having to purchase the mid-tier Spacial Seal, because if Randall was an actual member of the illustrious guild, then he would have surely acquired the seal already, but if he wasn't a guildsman, then he was most likely pinning his hopes on Primus purchasing the seal himself.
No matter how much of a manipulator Randall was, he couldn't account for the fact that Primus had obtained an Improvement Crystal and his elemental affinity was ether. Maybe if Randall had stayed a bit longer he would be the one to have absorbed the crystal instead. All Primus knew was that he had to reach level 20 and acquire a spacial manipulation spell before setting out on the quest.
[Spawn locations:
Primus chose the latter option and was transported back to the neat encampment on the shores of Cursed Island. He was about to check around for Elder Yelena when he noticed that he was... in her tent!
A soft but commandeering voice resounded in the tent, "Why are you here?"
It was then that Primus realized he hadn't found Elder Yelena. That voice belonged to the second Elder the Thunderbird's Guild had dispatched to the Stalwart Wonderer... it belonged to Elder Cassia.