Introduced earlier Enhancement Stones give a piece of Equipment a +1 when it succeeded. This meant its stats would increase by 10%, so a +10 item would have a 100% increase to its stats. An Upgrade Crystal, also later referred to as a Key Crystal, unlocks an item's potential. Owners of Equipment with the Locked property will finally have access to the hidden Skill or Buff.
The Dark General Set is given to Syringa Fang while the Shadow Tactician Set goes to Opal Bat. The total of 11 Skill Books are all rolled for and divided amongst them. Gerraium's Calm was given to Hammerhead while Scorifunel's Frenzy to Citrine Chevalier. While not as huge of a boost as Rarog's Fury, the two rings offered a 10% increase to the performance* of their users respective elements Arts and Crafts. For a support Mage and Summoner, that is actually really big!
"What did you two find by the way?" Tara asks, looking for Asuka and Aelix sized holes in the back wall. There wasn't any indication that they crashed into it at all.
"Oh! It's a false wall! An illusion!" Aelix says, hopping up and making eye contact with Asuka who had forgotten as she played with Hanit's hair. The teens don't make a move though since they are unsure if there is another hidden Boss. Only once they are fully recovered do they move towards the illusionary area. They climb large steps with each having an etching in a stair. Tara remembers the one she came across with the Hidden Clans previously.
They arrive before a large stone door engraved with the ancient alphabet. Seven different colors representing the elements overlap one another creating a massive array. They aren't met with any resistance until a woman materializes before them as they approach the gate.
She has no discernable weapon with her hands hidden within the sleeves of her purple and black hanfu. The woman gives off no pressure but it's for that reason everyone is on their guard.
"It's no wonder that old bastard died by your hands. Not even mentioning the exceptional Bloodlines among you, with a year of proper training and some true abilities he wouldn't have dragged you around as he did." The woman chuckles, lifting her hidden hands to hide her mouth.
"Were you the one who intercepted him during our fight? He mentioned something about Resonance?" Izel asks warily.
"No question of my identity?" The woman arches her eyebrow in reply.
"Would you answer us honestly if we did?" Pakeeja says. The woman gives a cheshire grin but glares.
"Daramick's Chosen are always so feisty. That's why they die young due to their ambitions and selfishness." Threat is in her voice. The miniscule amount of Essence she layers dwarfs that of the Chief Aberrant previously causing them to freeze. Then it disappears while leaving them gasping for air. "Who I am matters not for I am simply a projection. My true body is otherwise occupied. To answer your question, Watched One, Resonance relates to the energy into your body."
She waves her hand causing a translucent hologram to appear. It displays the body of Gladiolus who is in the forefront with her shield. Her brain, heart, and navel of her body glow with cyan light, though more rests in her navel.
"As you know nearly everything uses Essence while having an affinity for a particular element. Even those that are proficient in multiple lean towards one. Normally at your strength, the Essence within your bodies is jumbled up with the various elements. However, your techniques have refined your Essence to a point where your affinities are drawn to you. This is called Resonance." She waves the demonstration away before peering at every one of them for a moment.
"With your current mastery and progression of your Soul Realms, I would say you're at the initial Obsidian tier in terms of energy control for each of you. A weak bastard who couldn't become an Imperial after two millenia losing to you isn't really a surprise. Especially with a Blackhart and a Alav-?"
"What is the gate for?" Hanit rushes forward a panicked look on her face. The woman tilts her head at being interrupted but then nods.
"What lies behind me is one of the locks to the Banished Continent on the main world. Even I can't say it's name carelessly for doing so might weaken the barrier surrounding it. I can only give you this as a reward for your victory."
A set of scrolls appear before them. The Essence contained in the three items are higher than Demon's Surety, Angel's Gamble, or even the jewelry they received from the Sacred Beasts. Pakeeja hands them carefully to Jumping Sash, for it's probably better to read it later.
"Now, I have so much cleaning up to do. I'm sending you back before the Aberrants realize you Travelers eviscerated their leader. It will not be a pretty sight should they get their hands on you. Besides, I need to revive all my cute pets that your lot destroyed." The woman frowns as she fully releases her Essence. It extends outside of the Dungeon and manages to engulf the entire land. Whether they were resting at the camp, in the middle of a fight, or even challenging the Dungeon themselves, the Essence sweeps over them.
[Crossover Event Cleared! Calculating rewards will take 12 Natural Hours!]
Including the Ruby Blade and Lapis Tome group, all the Novelists and their teams appear in the white space of the Start screen. Some members of the various Guilds decide to log off while others' plan to reconvene with their main forces though little time remains in the session.
Jumping Sash, for instance, is one who immediately heads off to the Publisher's Union with her large haul of items to transcribe and copy. Whatever material the Prowess and Morale books are made of they don't disappear after use. The Workshop's Alchemists are also keen to find something similar so they start investigating as soon as they're logged on.
Only the Scrolls given by the mysterious lady are left with Tara, Pakeeja, and Izel in order to discover any hidden secrets. On the surface the three Scrolls describe that the Banished Continent is also called the Monster Continent or the Northern Continent.
The East and West is ruled by a large populace of Sophonts, Zoaria, Faeminded, and Prismatics. This continent however is overseen by Drakul, Orcs, and Shifters as the primary humanoid groups. Their Zoaria take the form of Harpies, Sirens, Gorgons and more! It is recorded that they have a similar Class system but a separate growth system.
Other than the names of some notable figures throughout the Banished Continent, several of the groups of monsters on both continents had migrated to the West and East. It's why more Orcs are found in the West, for example, while Gorgons are more common in the East.
It also gave some information on the Aberrants. Powerful beings that wrought entropy and decay, they used Miasma instead of Essence.
They arrived from another plane of existence and displayed physical resilience and magical strength on par with Heaven's Angels or Hell's Demons; they are also the only ones who know their true goals.
The reason the continent was banished and the Aberrants were sealed away on various pocket dimensions is due to a massive continental crusade between followers of Graviej, the Monster God and the Aberrants' Supreme God. The conflict threatened to destroy the Main World and spill onto others, so such measures were taken.
Under the identifying and appraisal abilities of the trio, they discover a couple things: firstly, if even one of the Scrolls carried by a magic user, Craft cooldowns were reduced by 5 percent per scroll for a total of 15 percent; secondly if any user carried the Scrolls for one natural month they would be able to learn their choice of language from the two continents.
It is the final part that Tara discovers:
As long as an Explorer reads one of the Scrolls, they will be able to choose one of the Banished Continent's classes for their tier advancements whether it be now or in the future. In most cases, this means as long as one chose a book, the System would aid them in immediately processing and remembering the information.
It is similar to how one learns new Crafts and Arts from the Skill Books. Some items did have certain requirements to read them. A certain Class, Trade, sometimes even a certain item is necessary before opening a book. Despite this, it is true that many who are not strong at fighting scour libraries of cities and capitals all over to discover hidden information that could boost their power or lead to a life changing quest!
The [History of the Banished Continent] had no such restrictions outside of its long processing time of 10 minutes. A player would need to stay in place for 10 minutes without moving for it to complete. They say time is money, or in this case Experience, so who would wait that long?
The kids from Lapis Tome and Ruby Blade had only focused on the Party Event multiple times in Adventure Mode and as such they are level 14.
Those who attempted the Solo Event are level 13 but better geared than the former. This is largely the trend in powerful Guilds and Workshops, pulling even newbies to level 10 quickly.
However, the Crossover Event is where things differed, with only the Lapis Tome and Ruby Blade group reaching level 16 due to how far they got in the final Dungeon. They had risen a level for every day they participated. So waiting was no problem.
If the rewards for the next day gave ample Experience then they might reach level 17! Between Tier Crystals, Uniformed Sets, and Prowess Books, Lapis Tome and Ruby Blade are set to lay down an even stronger foundation for the future. All eyes would be watching them...
***
"You must be truly desperate, Mr. Director." A cackle shocks the air. The source is a gorgeous young white woman with short dirty blonde hair. The ruthlessness in her hazel eyes informs the men and women before her that she is not a new hire.
"Your reputation precedes you, Ms. Hickbalm. It's very clear that the people I've cultivated these past few years are not strong enough to clean up this...problem." A man's tired voice replies. Though the man before her looks to be in his early 40s, he was actually in his late 50s. Benjamin Darren hadn't invested his company early enough into virtuality to make his Guild a first-rate.
Scissor Heart can be considered the upper crust second rate Guilds and the constant returns from it are nothing to scoff at. This is why they threw their weight around in towns where stronger Guilds did not frequent. When a rumor began circulating that the emergent Ruby Blade was likely a branch of Blueriver to conquer both continents, Darren had feared he had barked up the wrong tree.
Though this was dispelled by Royal Flame herself being escorted into Ruby Blade's Residence, the young Workshop was able to defeat his Guild soundly over several conflicts despite having far less numbers. This confirms that they had some backing and training with some force as it was inconceivable that some random group kids could match a second-rate Guild. Getting caught by them during the Crossover Event was just dumb luck.
Thus he made a decision after much deliberation to summon Queen's Charybdis.