Opening his eyes, Ludwig instantly looked to his side, the small lantern was there. It looked more like a keychain trinket, with small orange tinted glass and metallic decorations all over it and a small skull here and there around it.
And the person inside it was banging on the glass, soundlessly no matter how loud he screamed.
Ludwig stared at him with dead eyes, "You get what you deserve," he said and simply ignored the lantern.
'Now, things have changed a bit…' Ludwig said to himself as he stared at a notification that popped up in front of him.
***
❖ Due to your binding with the {Soul Letting Lantern} you can no longer gain experience from slaying monsters or humans.
❖ All your Quest Rewards from here onward will change from EXP to their equivalent in Souls.
❖ You can level up your stats using only the Souls inside your lantern.
❖ Each time you level up your stats [Using the Soul Letting Lantern] a total of ten times, you will gain one-character level.
❖ You can still gain stats doing quests or claiming achievements and they will not count toward your total level.
***
Ludwig was surprised to see the changes, they weren't little or few, and they were impactful to his future.
"Nothing changed in a general sense, but a lot had change. I still need to fight and kill monsters to gain souls to level up, but only this time I have the ability to choose when to level up. This could come in handy…" Ludwig thought.
He'd read many times about how main characters chose to save their points they earned to level up in bulk when they're in a pinch and surprise their opponent. Which is frankly not the worst thing to do. After all, he needed to stay lowkey, the protruding nail tends to get hammered in first.
The next notification showed him a hint for his next ordeal.
***
You have happened upon knowledge of one of the Seven Usurpers.
Personal Bestiary has been unlocked and Updated.
[Mord'Xander, Usurper of Life. The Wrathful Death]
The World of Ikos had known the entity to be a Guardian. While in reality, he has never guarded anything but his immortal body. Mord'Xander is a being who usurped life, refusing to return to eternal silence.
Further Information is Unavailable.
Location, last seen two hundred years ago, at the Northern Peaks of Solania the land of Decay.
Appearance… unregistered.
***
Quest Update!
❖ Visit the Northern Peaks of Solania and slay Morde'Xander.
❖ Quest difficulty: ☠☠☠☠☠
[Addendum: Currently your level and experience in the world is severely lacking to fight against Morde'Xander. You should level up more and gain more experience before you try and face him.]
❖ Time limit: ♾
❖ Reward: Mace of Wrathful Death
***
Ludwig tried to inspect the reward, as it looked like something of value. After all, it had a similar name to the title of the Usurper Mord'Xander.
But nothing came up after he tried.
He sighed.
Looking at the quest's difficulty and the hint given, he knew he had no shot at fighting anything considered a 'Guardian' and had lived for centuries.
It finally dawned on Ludwig why his quests had an infinite time limit. Because they were quests he wasn't going to clear anytime soon.
The final window popped up in front of him and he read.
***
[Currently, your Soul Letting Lantern is hosting a single Soul, do you wish to use it to improve your stats?]
***
Ludwig immediately refused. It was only one soul, and it was all he had, if he were to use it to gain stats or any of the sorts, it would leave his lantern empty and that makes him mortal.
He thought deeply about the challenges ahead, and realized that he had a lot of potential to do many insane and crazy things. But all is in vain without proper preparation, education, and knowledge. So for now, he pulled open his inventory-Ring- and pulled out a few of Van Dijk's books.
He needed to learn more about this world. He happened upon knowledge of one of the Seven Usurpers by simply reading.
'Who was the author? Ah yes, Hcilhcra Algad' Ludwig muttered.
And he had one more book from that author in his collection.
***
Somewhere far away from the control of the five towers of magic and the Empire of Lufondal, far too deep in the ground and hidden away from the sight of all living things and even the gods themselves. A massive room was currently hosting a meeting where no one was present in person.
The room had been branded in an immense number of sigils and magical writings glowing intensely against the dark atmosphere of this hidden chamber.
The table had ten chairs, and some of the chairs had a person's hologram seated on it. A couple were however empty.
Each holographic image depicted a different build of a different person. Some were gigantic, some were short, and some were human built, and some were actually not human whatsoever and would be more akin to call them a monster with sentience. Yet their appearance were all shrouded.
The only thing they all had in common was an item hanging on their waist.
A Soul Letting Lantern.