Remirg Kryptos buckled himself up as The Preparator opened his mouth to utter the question which could decide his fate.
But deep inside Remirg's consciousness, shrouded by countless layers of muscles and skin. Concealed by his satisfying expression, his mind was working in an entirely different direction.
Mark, who could easily read his mind smiled at the sheer use of brainpower Remirg was using. The idea he had come up with.... It would outsmart even the greatest of thinkers and philosophers. The simplicity of his idea was its ultimate sophistication.
The Preparator finally uttered the first question, his voice magically reverberating around the entire hall.
"What is something which is dearest to you, but if you lose it, it proves to be a happy moment for you ?"
Remirg listened to the statement through and through. A wide smile, malicious in its looks, appeared on his face. Jerking his neck around a little, he started walking forward, towering over the little figure standing in front of him.
"If the situation is not in my hands, I will make it.
I have to defeat this guy in ANY WAY POSSIBLE. So.... I'll defeat him the way it is easily possible with me.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. Remirg contracted his hands in the form of a fist.
As The Preparator's eyes widened, he punched him directly into the face, throwing the whole of his shadow figure almost ten feet apart, breaking almost all of its physical form which was forming his face.
The Preparator didn't even find himself a second to react before falling on the ground unconscious. He was knocked out midair.
Remirg, who felt an aftershock on his hand was waving his wrist, trying to ease out the pain which struck it hard, almost fracturing it.
But all of his pain was taken away as the most desired message of his was popped up by the Simulator in front of him.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED THE PREPARATOR!
YOU CAN NOW EXTRACT THE PRANA LOCKET FROM HIS NECK!]
Pacing towards the motionless body of the supreme shadow entity of this Z-tier shadow dungeon and its final boss, Remirg crouched low over its figure, examining him.
He was clearly unconscious and the prana locket, as mentioned by The Simulator, was dangling helplessly around his neck.
Ripping it out, as a precaution for taking too much time in that action.
The motionless body jerked for a singular moment and then lay lifeless again, almost like he had fallen dead.
The prana locket, which Remirg held in his hands, was large in it proportions, almost covering half of his palm, which were of considerable size.
It surprisingly bore the same mark which he could notice everywhere. The broken hilt of a sword surrounded by a snake, coiling itself around it.
"Strange, I should start investigating this stuff! It lies all around me! Almost like I have entered into a world radically different from mine!"
Nevertheless, his chain of thoughts was broken as the Simulator popped him a new notification.
[THE PLAYER CAN NOW COMMENCE TO PERFORM THE THIRD AND THE FINAL TASK! THE PLAYER HAS TO MERGE THE PRANA LOCKET WITH THE PRANA STONE ON THE DAIS. THIS WOULD FORM A PRANA CORE WHICH WOULD FORM THE BASE OF THE PLAYER'S MAGIC!]
Remirg's eyes shone with excitement as he read the message for the umpteenth time.
"Yes! I could finally truly unlock my magic! No matter how much my MP increases, I am unable to perform anything without a true core. I'm on my way at last!"
Finally looking back at the Preparator one last tie, he said in a voice which reflected a hint of sadness.
"There is no such thing in this world which you will love to lose and love to have. You can only choose one of them."
Mark, who heard Remirg's thundering declaration, smiled vaguely. "You still haven't achieved a lot. You'll later know what this guy meant by that. You'll always remember his words."
Meanwhile, Remirg was already making his way back out of the underworld of the shadow dungeon. He needed to get out of this dreaded place as quickly as possible. He couldn't stand there for any long.
Hurrying out of the staircase, he again descended down to arrive at the center of the tower.
But this time, it was quite different.
All the statues had vanished and, in their place, lied 10 different pillars, embroidered with the unknown script. On top of each of them lied a strange glowing spherical ball, emanating a different hue.
A quick check with prana presence almost knocked him out of place.
The spheres were so dense that all the prana particles seem to have smashed with each other to form a homogenous object made up of pure energy. It possessed so much power that Remirg couldn't even comprehend the prana density inside the hall.
It was unbelievably high.
But still, he ripped apart his gaze and turned away towards the center, facing the dais, on which lied the prana stone.
Taking a deep sigh, he extended out his right empty hand.
Picking it up from its place, Remirg felt a surge of energy raging inside him as the spherical balls all around him connected to the prana stone and prana locket he held in his respective hands.
He could feel his movements being restrained by the immense power the artifacts possessed.
But still, he couldn't stop now.
Struggling, he put all the energy he could into his arms, pulling back both of the objects. The more he brought them near, the denser was the force of repulsion. His face contorted, sweat flowing at a rapid rate.
Still, he had to do it.
Veins pulsing, all nerves barging right through his skin, he still exerted the most force possible his mortal body could.
Finally, in a heart whelming scream, he strained all of his muscles and smashed them together.
The message appeared onto his screen as he started falling, unconscious.
[THE PLAYER HAS FINALLY COMPLETED THE THIRD TASK!
THE FIRST QUEST HAS SUCCESSFULLY BEEN COMPLETED!]