Chapter 69 – New Pet Part2
Kaaaaa! Kaaaaa!
Liam's attacks made the twin-tailed wind ripper's speed slow down and he managed to get in a couple of decent attacks.
He continued attacking the elite, switching between using his sword attacks and lightning bolts.
Compared to the bear king, this one did not last long as the bird was trapped within the cave unable to exhibit its full agility which was its strong point. It was also guarding the eggs which made it restless and unfocused.
"This has to be the easiest elite!" Liam grinned.
It was perhaps designed as a reward for the player who managed to climb atop the mountain first.
But this was not his final target, so without wasting a lot of time, he quickly brought down the wind ripper to its final bits of health.
As a last ditch attempt, the bird tried to use everything it had and sent out blasts of sharp winds by flapping both of its wings.
Liam rooted his feet to the ground and stabbed his sword into a rock crevice, strongly holding on.
He then swung forward to land behind the bird, swiftly bringing down his sword to slash the bird's neck when he noticed that the eggs were about to be blown out of the cave.
Liam missed the attack on purpose and instead managed to grab an egg, saving at least one of them. He then sent out a bolt of lightning to finish the bird that was already severely injured.
[Ding. Congratulations. You have killed the Twin-tailed Wind Ripper. You have gained 10000 Experience points]
[Ding. You have leveled up]
The experience points this time were not as much as when he had killed the previous elite but the difficulty had also been less as there wasn't much of a level difference.
And this was just as an unexpected windfall, the main event laid ahead. Liam put the bird's egg into his inventory and then walked to the end of the cave which surprisingly was also open.
Liam walked all the way to the opening and peered inside as the hot scalding waves of warm air assaulted his face.
In front of him, inside the mountain was a pool of gurgling lava and in the midst of this lava was a huge rock. Liam sucked in a big mouthful of air and jumped from the cave onto the rock, landing steadily.
He lost a bit of health as the rock just like everything else was scalding hot, but he quickly emptied a flask of health potion to recover back his full health.
"Now let me see if this works." Liam sat down cross-legged and took out the egg he had gotten from Niria's lair out of his inventory space.
He placed the egg on the scalding hot rock and then stepped back from it, observing it curiously. He had only read about this vaguely so he wanted to see how exactly this was going to work.
Within seconds, wisps of burning red fire essences arose from the lava and flew towards the big egg, one by one.
They swirled around the egg and then disappeared as if they had entered the egg itself. "Interesting." Liam mused. He took out the other egg as well and placed it near this one.
The second egg was the one he had obtained from the twin-tailed wind ripper. But as soon as he took this one out, cracks started forming on the egg.
"Fuck!" Liam immediately put it back into his inventory. He had never dealt with pets or the even rarer pet eggs in his previous life.
He assumed that the wind ripper's egg might also benefit from the lava as its nest was located on the same mountain but from the looks of it, it was probably not.
"Well. I will check it out later if it is still salvageable." Liam scratched his chin and once again started observing the first egg.
More and more fire essence had gathered around the egg and they were all slowly being absorbed by it. "So a spirit type beast is born from the essence of that element? Hmm."
Can I also absorb this essence?"
Liam reached his hand forward to touch the red wisps of energy. He expected it to be scalding hot but these were rather warm, even relaxing, and nice to touch.
And as he was moving his hand around, a small bit of the fire essence went inside his finger as well. "What?" Liam quickly pulled his hand back.
[Ding. Congratulations. You have gained an affinity for the fire element. All you fire type attacks have 5% increased damage]
Liam was completely speechless.
He had heard about this specific term called affinity and how certain mages had extremely high affinities, but he didn't know anything about it, let alone expect to gain it at such an early stage of the game.
This kind of information was highly regulated and not available for everyone to know. All he knew about spirit type pets was that they were likely to hatch in their element.
And people who had contracted spirit type pets were strong enough to hold their own in the real world when the madness descended.
But there was clearly more to this!
Liam flopped down on the rock and threw his head back to laugh loudly. It seemed like he needed to keep his eyes and brain working all the time.
Even the smallest detail could apparently hold tremendous significance. He let out a deep breath and once again started hovering his hand near the egg.
From what he could see, it was the egg that was acting as a sort of magnet pulling in all the wisps of fire essence. When he placed his hand directly over the lava, this did not happen.
And he did not dare test it out by placing it inside the lava.. His hand would probably be burnt to a crisp in a fraction of a second and he did not possess any healing spell just yet.
Chapter 70 – New Pet Part3
From what Liam could tell, it was clearly the egg that was kind of refining the fire essence from the lava and he was stealing bits and pieces of it.
This gave him an idea.
Liam lifted the egg and sat down on the rock, then placed the egg on his lap. After which, he continued absorbing whatever essence that he could steal from it.
He carried on with this for several minutes without any disturbance.
However, as time passed, the lava started bubbling and gurgling more and a hissing sound echoed in the pool of molten rocks and fire.
Liam quickly placed the egg back on the rock and stood up. Surrounding him on four sides were four lava mambas.
"Hmmm. Did you guys show up because we were stealing your essence?" He grinned and made his move.
After absorbing a little of the fire essence, he was beginning to feel a bit more comfortable in the lava filled hellish place but he was not a fool to think that this would be of any help.
These snakes held the absolute advantage as they were standing in their domain. Moreover, they were also Level 25 just like the lava salamanders.
Liam cautiously went all out from the very beginning and cast a [lightning bolt] before slashing his sword at the red scaled reptile.
-150
A huge damage number popped out, blood spurted from the injury but the very next second the health drop was replenished and the blood dried up.
The mamba's health went back up leaving behind only 30 residual damage. Liam then watched this as well disappear as the mamba dipped its head in the lava and hissed proudly once again.
As if this wasn't enough, the other three snakes all attacked at the same time and not him. They aimed for the egg that was silently collecting the fire essence.
"Fuck!" Liam quickly backed up and stood in front of the egg. He suddenly found himself in the same position as that of the twin-tailed wind ripper, trying to protect his egg like a mother bird.
He waved his sword, parrying the advances of the four mambas from the four sides, but he only successfully blocked them. Dealing them damage seemed almost impossible at this rate.
He didn't even get a chance to think of a better strategy as the four lava mambas continued hissing and coming at the egg relentlessly.
Liam started sweating. Considering his skills and abilities, it looked like he had still acted overconfidently.
He could have dealt with these snakes in a more relaxed manner if he had leveled just a bit more, but then again Liam did not regret it.
He had dealt with worse before. This sticky situation was nothing more than a golden training opportunity for him or rather he decided to look at it that way.
"So I cannot deal any damage and I have to keep blocking their attacks at least until the egg hatches. Alright. Bring it on."
Just like he tried to combine mana with his forging technique, he once again started practicing mana with his sword moves.
The damage numbers instantly went up.
-230
-190
-220
-240
However, the four mambas easily took care of it by taking another dip in the lava pool.
Hisssss! Hisssss! Hissssss! They came back at him with the same strength and vigor and the cycle once again started without any change.
Liam smiled bitterly at this frustrating sight and continued fighting back patiently. Time ticked by slowly and every minute felt like an hour.
His reserves of mana potions, health potions, and stamina berries were also slowly dwindling one at a time.
In reality, it was harmful to use these supplements as every time anyone used these things unless it was of the highest grade quality, a certain amount of residual impurities remained behind.
Liam only ignored this part as he was eventually going to fully cleanse his body. Otherwise, even this wouldn't have been an option.
But even so, it was slowly becoming more and more difficult to keep up as there was also the mental fatigue that came into the picture.
Liam could only hope that it would be the same for the four mambas but unfortunately, before he could find out if that was true or not, something else happened.
All of a sudden, the amount of fire essence seeping out of the lava increased and it looked like more and more wisps were swirling around the egg.
The eggshell as well was glowing brightly and radiating some sort of strange energy. "Haaaa… is this finally over?" Liam tiredly exhaled as he swung his sword again.
As if answering him, the lava surrounding them gurgled again, and adding to his misery, another four lava mambas arose from the bed of magma.
His face instantly darkened seeing all eight snakes coming at him or rather the egg at the same time. "Motherfucker! I am screwed!"
He slashed his sword around in a frenzy trying to block and parry with all eight snakes but that quickly drained his reserves in the blink of an eye.
All eight of them took a dip in the lava pool, replenished their reserves, and came back hissing angrily.
They looked determined to break open the egg and take out all the fire essences that had gone inside. Liam only needed a second to know that this was going to end badly.
He was going to die and at the same time lose the egg as well. While the former was not absolutely irreversible, the latter would set him back quite a bit.
"Huff. It looks like there is no other way. I will have to use that." Liam sighed and then calmed down and composed himself for a moment before closing his eyes.
"This better work."
He was no longer looking at the eight mambas or their movements. He looked like he had given up completely.
And as the eight snakes came hissing at the egg, just when they were about to shatter it open, Liam finally moved.
Chapter 71 – Not One But Two
Liam's figure was a blur and the crimson blade in his hand let out a shrill cry before breaking apart into several fragments.
At the same time, a hundred swords appeared out of nowhere and pierced the snakes from top to bottom.
-2000
-2000
-2000
-2000
-2000
-2000
-2000
-2000
One hit kill! All eight snakes dropped down dead, sprawled on the rock and Liam as well was lying amidst them unconsciously.
An ominous silence prevailed on the inside of the volcanic mountain and a few minutes later soft cracking sounds echoed.
Kyyuuuu?
….
….
….
With the sizzling heat waves constantly assaulting him, Liam was only unconscious for barely a minute. Besides, there was something wet and dripping on his face.
He scrunched his face and stirred awake, feeling the wet sticky liquid all over his face and neck. And as soon as he was able to think clearly, he jolted to sit upright. "Damn it. The egg!"
Liam's eyes widened as he was about to hurriedly see what was happening around him and if he was in any immediate danger when unexpectedly he came face to face with something else.
A small creature was standing on his lap, looking up at him with its big wide eyes.
Kyuuuu.
It purred and before he could react, it immediately jumped on him and started licking his face like a small puppy.
"What the…" Liam was baffled. He plucked the baby beast by the scruff of its neck and took a look at it. It was a fox spirit beast and its fur was a ruby red color.
He stared at the creature for a second, and then lightly chuckled, as everything fell into place. "So you are the spirit beast huh?"
Unexpectedly a soft voice answered him back. 'Papa'
"Oh!" Liam was amazed once again. He had never dealt with companion beasts before.
Though he knew that a companion beast and its master shared a mental connection, this was the first time he was experiencing it personally.
"Wait. Are you bound to me already or am I yet to tame you?"
Liam knew that pets hatched from eggs were automatically tamed and belonged to the owner of the egg, but he still wanted to verify it with his own eyes.
He hurriedly opened the status screen to check when a number of notifications bombarded him.
[Ding. 300 Experience points have been rewarded]
[Ding. 300 Experience points have been rewarded]
…
…
…
"These must be the experience points from the eight lava mambas." He swiped them away and looked at the next few notifications.
[Ding. A new skill 'Spirit Wrath' has been created due to your actions]
[Spirit Wrath: Consumes 50% soul strength; Million swords arise from the earth, each dealing 1000% damage to the enemy that had incurred the wrath; Cooldown: None]
[Ding. Your Soul Strength is too weak. The Skill has been locked]
Liam tiredly smiled at this familiar skill. This was the second and most powerful attack he had comprehended by himself in his previous life.
He was not fortunate enough to run into any of the famous Sword Heritages or Sword's Will like the other players.
After he had broken free from his life of slavery, this was all that he could manage to pick up, [Spirit Slash] and [Spirit Wrath].
Perhaps if he had comprehended more about the way of the sword he would have had a chance to learn even stronger attacks, but he never had that opportunity.
However, that was going to change this time around. This was why Liam did not hesitate and used this trump card in his possession.
Now both the spirit sword skills he possessed were locked, but it wouldn't be long before he unlocked them and finished his comprehension.
Liam let out a long tired sigh and then looked at the last few remaining notifications. "I even used my trump card, so this better be worth it."
[Ding. Egg is hatching]
[Ding. You have obtained a new pet]
[Ding. Egg is hatching]
[Ding. You have obtained a new pet]
"Huh?" Liam was confused seeing two notifications of egg hatching.
"Both the eggs hatched?" He looked around again, this time lifting his hea head up, to finally see a small wind ripper chirping above his head.
"Come here." He muttered waving his hand when the bird quickly flew down to him. It was only barely the size of his palm, the same as the red fox.
"How are you able to fly already?" He chuckled.
The bird shook its head but it didn't speak back to him like the fox. Of course, this difference was to be expected.
Even though he shared a mental link with both of them, one was a normal beast while the other was a spirit beast.
So while the fox could freely converse with him, or at least speak something rudimentary, the bird could only understand his commands.
He glanced at the two tiny beasts circling him and looking at him with their big wide eyes and shook his head helplessly. "Looks like I need to spend some time leveling you guys up."
Liam also didn't want this incident to repeat itself once again. Though leveling up was not his top priority, it was something that needed to be done to progress further in the game.
His gaze casually dragged over the corpses of the lava mambas as he checked for any loot and a few copper coins and a couple of silver coins were scattered around.
There was also a pair of flaming red braces and a skill book.
Liam first picked up the skill book to take a look.
[Lava Rain] – Consumes 20% of base mana; 5 second cast time; Calls down a rain of fire and lava, burning all enemies within the vicinity with 50% spell damage.
"Hmmm. Not bad." Liam quickly learned the skill.
This combined with the boost he had for fire magic as a result of collecting fire essence would together pull big numbers of damage on multiple targets.
He prepared to leave but he suddenly paused thinking of something. "Can you still absorb fire essence from the lava pool?"
The tiny fox spirit beast stared at Liam and then at the lava pool shaking its head. 'No papa'
"Hmmm… Is there no more fire essence in the lava pool or you are no longer able to do that?"
The fox looked at him blankly and then again shook its head.
'Sorry, papa. Don't know.' The beast's face immediately changed and it looked down sorrowfully. Such a sight was capable of melting anyone's heart.
Even Liam felt awkward. "Don't worry. You will be able to do it when you grow up."
He rubbed its head gently and only then the fox brightened up again, smiling back at him with its extremely adorable appearance.
"Tsk. Tsk. If I had known this beforehand, I could have planned this better and absorbed some more fire essence before you hatched!"
He flicked the fox's head, but the beast seemed to like even this and purred happily. Liam sighed at this sight and smiled bitterly.
At times, looking at the beauty and marvel around him, it was difficult not to enjoy this life, but in reality, this was like the calm that came before the storm.
He simply didn't have the time to entertain these two and show them the love and affection a baby beast required.
"You guys will have lots of attention when I bring Mei Mei over. Until then just be good." Ha patted the fox and then the bird. "Let's leave this place."
Getting out of the lava pool was just as difficult as getting in here in the first place.
Liam hopped on the small rocks floating atop the lava and then reached the sturdy rock wall of the mountain.
These were even warmer than the ones outside and he was barely able to touch them without seeing a drop in his health.
But thankfully, this climb was short as the cave jutted out at the top just a few hundred meters up.
Liam sucked in a big breath of air before he started climbing up or rather running up the mountain.
He placed his hands and feet in a mad rush in whatever crevices he could find, holding on to whatever rock that was near, and climbed up as fast as he could.
Even if he reduced his speed a little, he would begin to lose huge amounts of health rapidly. So he didn't hold back and only let out the next breath when he reached his destination.
His pets on the other hand…
One c One casually flew up while the other hopped and skipped and landed softly next to him.
Liam walked out of the cave, reaching the other end, and then took out a tool from his bag. It was a sickle-like weapon that had a long rope tied to it.
He hooked it to the inside of the cave, securing it properly, and then began climbing down the tall mountain using the rope to slowly lower himself down.
Chapter 72 – Don't Try Anything Shady
With the small fox clung to his neck, Liam climbed down, holding on to the rope and lowering himself bit by bit.
The climb down was also much easier and faster compared to the upward journey.
He was already back on the ground, standing on the crater before any more mobs of wind ripper birds could assault him mid-air.
"Time to head out." Liam started walking with two little things hovering around him, one in the air and one on the ground.
Coincidentally, the five members party team who had been hunting lava salamanders when he had arrived here were still wandering around the area.
They all noticed him and greeted him as soon as they saw him. Much to their surprise, Liam as well lightly nodded back. "Do you guys want to run a dungeon together?"
Who wouldn't want to be carried by a strong expert?
Without thinking much at all, the tank immediately blurted out. "Yes sir!" He even readily kicked out his own teammate, the mage, who looked back at him dumbfounded.
"Bro! My damage is better than this guy's!" He immediately pointed his finger at the thief as he also wanted to shamelessly tag along and have fun.
But alas, it was too late and no one was paying any attention to him any longer. He could only silently protest and watch as the others continued discussing.
"There is a dungeon nearby called the moon lake. We can run it. You guys can keep all the equipment drops and the money. I will be taking the skill books and the materials."
"Does that work?" Liam suggested. He laid out all the conditions upfront.
The tank quickly nodded his head up and down and agreed. These terms might be disadvantageous in general but not in this case.
In fact, they had also been grinding here for the past few hours so that they could enter that same dungeon.
It was a level 20 dungeon and all of them were currently Level 19 or Level 20.
However, a dungeon difficulty was always higher so they wanted to be at least Level 21 or 22 before attempting it which was why they had been grinding here.
But now that Liam had asked them, they didn't want to let this opportunity go and decided to team up with the experienced player.
Even if they fail, it didn't matter much as it was quite common to run a dungeon a few times and fail before finishing it successfully. Running it once with a skilled player would only help them a lot.
Seeing that none of them had any issues and a readymade group was available for him to insert himself into, Liam quickly finished the discussion.
"Alright. Make a party and send me an invitation." He muttered and started walking out of the crater towards the 'Moon Lake' dungeon located in the forests surrounding the Yleka city.
The others as well hurried after him, even the rejected mage.
Not long after Liam received the notification.
[Ding. You have been invited to join a party]
[Ding. Do you accept? Yes/ No]
Liam selected 'Yes' and then he immediately received another notification.
[Ding. You have been marked as the leader of the party]
[Ding. Do you accept? Yes/ No]
Liam smiled a little and unexpectedly refused this one.
"Umm. Do you not want to be the leader?" The tank asked in disbelief, but the other party simply waved his hand. "No, that is not necessary."
The tank looked startled. He couldn't help but feel touched by this kind gesture. What a nice and friendly person!
Not only did he show them how to quickly grind lava salamanders, but he also invited them for a dungeon run and didn't even want to be the party leader!
How generous and lofty! This was how an expert should act!
The group started walking out of the crater into the forests.
Liam was walking at the front, along with the two tiny beasts near him and the rest followed him, all their eyes fixated on the two beasts rather than Liam.
Now that they had some time to talk to him, they had already noticed the two new pets who were not with him before.
Inside their private chat group:
Kim Hyun (Theif): Guys, did you see those two pets? He didn't have them before, right? Right?
Shin Soo (Tank): Yes. I also didn't see any pets with him before. He should have gotten those somewhere in this area only
Kim Hyun (Theif): Fuck! I knew it! Aren't flying pets supposed to be rare? How the heck does he have one already? And the fox also looks like it's something special! They are so small like babies too. I bet he hatched an egg or something.
Shin Soo (Tank): Yes. I also think so.
Kang Mina (Healer): Hyun, I know what you are thinking! Stop. Don't do anything shady. Don't ruin this!
Chung Hee (Mage 1): Ha Ha. Bang on! I am sure this guy is thinking about something like that. Kim Hyun (Theif): Sheesh. You guys. I was just saying. Sunho, at least you support me, bro!
Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Fuck! Who the hell cares? Why did you kick me out bastard?
Shin Soo (Tank): Guys settle down. Let's not screw this up. His pets don't seem that rare. It's just a bird and a fox. We can come back here and search again for more eggs later. I am sure it will respawn. We can even ask him how to get those. So I am warning again, don't try anything shady.
Kim Hyun (Theif): Alright. Alright. Whatever. Let's first see what he is made of. We just saw him kill a salamander. He might not be all that.
Kang Mina (Healer): I bet he is still better than you!
Kim Hyun (Theif): What the hell Mina? Why are you always against me?! I am only saying that if he is not that strong then we can easily steal his pets. Wait, pets drop right?
Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Kick this guy out and invite me back!
Chapter 73 – Heavenly Retribution
Liam could almost feel the burning gaze on his back as he walked ahead. Were things going to get interesting?
Heh. He silently chuckled to himself. It would indeed be simpler to level elsewhere without attracting much attention, but dungeons were the fastest and most efficient method.
Besides, he needed more souls to finish his quest. So he did not mind even if someone wanted to try something.
The 'moon lake' was a dungeon located near the northern part of the forests surrounding Yleka city.
The place was supposed to be a flourishing city, an extension of Yleka city in fact, but instead, it was currently a deserted land, haunted by ghosts and ghouls and all sorts of undead creatures.
This was also one of the reasons why Liam had wanted to run this dungeon several times.
This video game was like a tutorial for everyone to gain the basic knowledge of the class of their choosing.
Thus far he had somewhat grasped using a sword and even a bit of mana control and regulation. However, this was still not even close to what he wanted to accomplish.
Perhaps he can become one of the stronger human beings and manage the chaotic world with just this much but it was not nearly enough to deal with the monsters that also were going to inevitably show up.
When he had fallen, these sort of cunning and cruel creatures were just beginning to show up and even he did not know how much more awaited them.
He would only be a fool to not use this opportunity to gain everything he could so that he would eventually be able to face no matter what came his way.
Not to mention the mysteriously high affinity he had with the undead.
His mana affinity was only S-grade, but his undead affinity was SSS-grade which according to his knowledge was the highest.
Liam wanted to understand more about the undead and the magic that was associated with their power.
In his previous life, there had been a player who had unlocked a hidden class associated with the undead and had brought over with him an army of undead soldiers when the apocalypse started.
Liam was not interested in this hidden class but he wanted to understand everything behind it to gain the same benefits.
In reality, this was even more difficult than if he simply wanted to switch to the particular hidden class, but he was determined to take that risk.
One reason was because he wanted a power that was above what a hidden class could provide but the main reason was because of the affinity testing results that the system had given out when he entered the game.
So he firmly believed that not choosing a specific class and relying on his insight and knowledge to make use of all of his affinities was the best path ahead for him.
And if he was not able to make any progress in the next couple of months, he could always fold and pick up one of the many powerful hidden classes scattered around this world.
Many of these were only unlocked later in the game so he had time to take the risk first.
While Liam was engrossed in his own thoughts, his other new friends were busily chatting about the dungeon. He was not paying attention to them until he heard a familiar name.
"Heavenly Retribution guild is still holding the highest record time for the dungeon clear right?" Kim Hyun, the thief, excitedly rubbed his hands. "I wonder if we will be able to beat that?"
"Can you ever open your mouth and say something not stupid?" Kang Minah hit the guy with the staff that she was holding.
"I can't deal with this stupid anymore Shin Soo.I am going to quit this shitty team and join Heavenly Retribution. That girl Alex looks so cool!"
"As if they would take in a shitty healer like you!" Kim Hyun angrily retorted back.
"Haaa. Sure. Always put the blame on the freaking healer! If you literally stand at the mouth of the salamander when it is throwing fire at you, even Jesus can't save you stupid!"
Just as Kim Hyun was about to say something back, Liam instead stopped in hi
instead stopped in his tracks. "Guilds are already up?"
The world announcements for the guilds would only start when there were fifty or more guilds, directly opening up to the hall of fame, so this information was not announced in-game just yet.
Liam did not really care about this but he admittedly was a little startled to hear an unfamiliar guild name and a familiar person's name linked together.
"Ah… yes. There are a total of 31 guilds so far." The tank Shin Soo quickly replied. Liam had no doubt that this number was going to skyrocket soon.
"And what were you saying about this heavenly retribution guild?"
"Oh that… They are one of the top guilds at the moment. Three of their core members are even on the leaderboard! They have also started setting records for the dungeons." Shin Soo elaborated.
"Eh? Not just started. They hold records for the Level 10, Level 15, and Level 20 dungeons." Kang Minah corrected him.
"Yes. Yes. Aha ha ha. I didn't forget that. Bro, if you follow Alex or Mia Or Rey on Instagram or Twitter you can see all the details. They have been promoting their social presence heavily."
"Their guild also has so many members already. I heard that they already filled their first 50 members quota and now everyone else was on a waitlist."
The tank continued talking about things but Liam was no longer paying attention to him. Things were already starting to change compared to his last timeline.
And this particular change, he had no doubt that he was the sole reason behind it.
After a while, the tank stopped talking and Liam nodded. "Alright. Thanks for the information." He then chuckled and muttered under his breath to himself.
"Heavenly retribution huh? Interesting…"