In the darkness, Nightingale couldn't feel anything. It was as if he was floating in an invisible sea. The last thing he remembered was the icicle brutally piercing through him and his body hanging from the roof of the cave. To him, the moment of death felt real. He knew that he would ultimately be alive as Mythos Online was just a game. However, he couldn't forget the feeling of his body slowly becoming cold. Suddenly, Nightingale was overwhelmed by a sinking feeling that made his body jerk upwards as if to keep his head above the water.
Nightingale's body bolted upright. He looked downwards and expected his hands to be covered in blood, only to find a clear liquid escape through the gaps between his fingers. Realizing that he was simply resurrected by the game, he looked around at his surroundings.
Pearl white pillars towered all around him. Stained glass windows of every color that he could imagine painted the room a rainbow. He turned his head and found a statue of a crucified goddess. He was sitting in the middle of the room in a narrow pool of unknown liquid. He slowly stood up from the pool expecting his armor to be wet, only for the liquid to roll off of him. Nightingale looked up at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and sighed in relief.
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Shin laid on the floor staring at the ceiling where Nightingale once hung. Adam was calling to him but his voice was drowned out by the horrible image of Nightingale's death. Shin knew that Nightingale would simply respawn in Freila but he couldn't shake the thought of watching his friend die. Shin put his hand over his eyes as if to erase the image from his memory. He slowly sat upright which made Adam giddy.
"You can get up? That's great, great great! We can get out of here right?"
Shin nodded in silence, remembering his quest. He then opened his skill tree panel and distributed the points he gained from killing the boss.
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[Savant Skill Tree]
[Swift Strike LEVEL: 5/5] - Dash a short distance forward and attack enemies with your equipped weapon with 110%/150%/190%/230%/300% of your attack power.
[Retrieval LEVEL: 5/5] - While your equipped weapon is not currently held by you, call the weapon back to your hand so long as it's within 3/7/12/18/25 meters of you.
[Efficiency LEVEL: 4/5] - When consuming a resource or ammunition, there is a 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% chance that the cost will be refunded back to you.
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Just as he finished distributing the skill points, he received a notification. It was message from Nightingale.
"Hey, Shin… Sorry you had to see that. I assure you that it felt as painful as it looked."
"Anyway, we have some catching up to do later but that's gonna have to wait cause you're probably still down there. I'll make my way down there as soon as possible." Nightingale continued.
"Yeah, no kidding. Adam is still with me down here. He's actually kind of annoying so I'd like to get this over with already. I can't really get over how real all of that felt. Although, you definitely got the worse end of the stick." Shin replied.
"Did you see that message from John Miller?" Shin asked.
"He sent everyone a message? I must've missed it while I was out." Nightingale responded.
"We'll talk about it later. For now, I'll start bringing Adam up the ravine and I guess we'll meet you halfway."
"Got it."
Shin swiped away the message panel and stood up from the cold cave floor. Adam followed his actions and popped upright in excitement.
Shin and Adam walked through the cave on the same path that they came from. As the cave opened up to the ravine, they heard the sounds of clanking armor. Fearing the worst, Shin signaled for Adam to get behind him as they both clung to the wall of the cave. Shin peeked his head around the corner only to find two royal guards walking toward them. The two sighed in relief and walked around the corner casually.
"You there! Why are you with Adam?" One of the guards asked aggressively.
"I'm escorting him back to his home at the request of his cousin, Rodgier." Shin replied promptly.
"You seem a little suspicious. We'll take it from here." The other guard said while sticking his hand out to Adam.
Adam seemed reluctant to take his hand as he had bad experiences with the royal guard. Seeing this, Shin also grew wary. In caution, Shin remembered the quest log.
[Escort Adam, Rodgier's cousin, out of the mines while defeating all monsters on your path.]
"If I were to follow this exactly, I can't let the guards escort Adam to Rodgier. I'd have to escort him personally." Shin thought as he interpreted the quest requirements literally. Immediately, the royal guards changed from a ray of light at the end of the tunnel to just another nuisance in the way of his quest.
The royal guards grew impatient and started to clench their weapons tighter. Shin caught on with [Perception II].
"This isn't a negotiation, we'll take him from here. That is an order." The guard said while slamming the end of his spear into the ground.
Shin didn't know how strong the guards were as he wasn't able to see their skills or attributes. He could only hope that they were weaker than the boss as he had witnessed their comrades fall to a small mob of frost goblins earlier.
Shin shoved Adam back with one hand and took out his dagger with the other. Adam stumbled backwards but caught himself on the wall of the ravine. The first soldier swung his spear horizontally, crashing it into the ravine walls. Shin ducked underneath his spear and dashed straight through him with [Swift Strike]. In an instant, a spray of blood burst from a slit in the guard's armor. The royal knight collapsed on his knees before falling off the edge of the path and into the darkness.
"You bastard!"
The second guard rushed at Shin with his sword and shield. The shield rammed into Shin's shoulder sending him sliding backward.
Shin dusted off his shoulder and sheathed his dagger in exchange for his shortbow. Without delay, Shin let three arrows loose which flew straight toward the opening in the guard's helmet. In response, the guard raised his shield and deflected all three arrows. Seeing this, Shin took out his dagger once more and threw it at the guard's head, narrowly missing and implanting itself into stone.
The guard saw this as his opportunity and rushed at Shin in a thrusting motion.
Shin countered by clenching his hand into a fist to call the dagger back to him. The dagger broke free from the stone and implanted itself into an opening in the guard's helmet, stopping him in his tracks. The tip of dagger came out the other side of the guard's neck, spraying blood on Shin and his surroundings.
"Ghhughuh…" The guard gurgled and fell over.
Shin recalled his dagger, dislodging from the guard's neck and into his hands before flipping it in the air.
"You can come out now, Adam." Shin said calmly while catching the dagger.
"Uhh… Yes… Sir…" Adam said quietly while peeking from the corner of the cave.
Shin didn't think much about killing the royal guard as they were just like the monsters that got in his way.
"While they were humans in form, they were just NPCs." He thought.
Shin and Adam followed the walkway back up the ravine. The sky and their surroundings slowly brightened again as scattered rays of sunlight hit the ravine walls, revealing the translucent blue ice clinging to the stone.
Shin looked up and saw an elevator descend. Nightingale's green hair slowly came into sight alongside his waving hand. Shin waved back as a wide smile broke out across Adam's face. As the elevator leveled out with the path, Shin and Adam stepped onboard.
Shin and Nightingale were silent for most of the ride up as Adam held onto the guardrails, staring wondrously at the emerging city.
"Sorry I couldn't help protect Adam on the way up." Nightingale broke the silence.
"That's fine. I actually got confronted by two royal guards while I came out of the cave." Shin explained while pointing to his stained clothes.
Shin proceeded to explain the confrontation and his decision to kill the guards. Nightingale was shocked at first but eventually understood his reasoning. The elevator reached the top of the shaft and the gates opened. Adam pranced out gleefuly towards the city while Shin and Nightingale walked behind him.
Upon arriving at Rodgier's porch, Adam said he could handle himself from here and reached both of his hands out toward Shin and Nightingale. As Shin and Nightingale took his hand, Adam lowered his head in a deep bow.
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[QUEST COMPLETE: RODGIER'S FINAL REQUEST]
[YOU OBTAINED 5,200 SILVER]
[YOU REACHED LEVEL 20]
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Adam unlocked the door, stepped in, and waved one last goodbye before shutting the door.
The party of two walked back towards the guild hall to confirm the completion of the quest with the receptionist.
"Well, we certainly have the silver now to make a guild." Shin said with his hand on his chin.
"The hard part is naming it though." Nightingale replied while replicating the same gesture.
"How does Blossom sound?"
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 20 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 25 | Agility: 25 | Intelligence: 25
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