Chapter 57: Video
Ember wasn't surprised by Leon's question. Most players, when they advance to Level 1, would upload a recording of their job transfer process for others to download. Of course, these recordings are edited and require a fee, but they help later players understand that such a profession exists or what choices they can make within it.
Moreover, the profession Ember chose wasn't some hidden or rare profession. It was a regular profession called Mecha Knight. Normally, as long as one finds a mecha that matches their attributes and fuses with it in a specific location, the job transfer is considered complete.
Typically, the most challenging aspect of this profession is the mecha's creation, which is where most players get stuck. Ember got lucky this time, finding the Seven Knights I-Type mecha, the "Adrian Solis" model, left by her ancestor, Adrian Solis.
If it weren't for the level decrease of the Storm Isles map and the permissions she held, this mecha would definitely be a Level 3 boss. That's why Ember, having just completed her job transfer, was rated as having the potential to become a Level 3 player.
However, Leon was merely asking out of curiosity. His attributes and Ember's were worlds apart, with no similarities whatsoever. Plus, he already had his own path forward and had no intention of becoming a dark-attribute Mecha Knight.
He had been on a mission in the Storm Isles map for too long last time, almost reaching the final step but having to return, leaving him with mixed feelings. At the very least, he wanted to know what happened in the end, to see if his previous efforts had been in vain.
At this point, Ember said, "Anyway, I've already posted the video on both the independent forum and the school forum. You can find it there, but I'll send you a copy directly. It's free, as an apology for my earlier offense."
Leon understood the meaning behind Ember's words. At first, she had only regarded him as cannon fodder, but now that she realized his potential was higher than hers, the price she had initially offered might have been offensive. Offering an apology was her way of showing goodwill.
Leon, understanding this, accepted the video from Ember without hesitation and opened it on his virtual screen.
The video Ember sent had clearly been edited. From the moment they entered the Storm Isles, the other players were just background characters, with Ember handling all the important interactions.
Even when the Seven Knights IV-Type mecha appeared, the main perspective was focused on her Seven Knights IV-Type "Adrian Solis."
Leon quickly skipped over this part and dragged the video to the point after they entered the ancient experimental lab.
In the video, Leon didn't see his departure but witnessed the massive explosion in the main lab. Most of the players didn't escape in time. The video showed Ember escaping with her two juniors onto the Seven Knights IV-Type "Adrian Solis," while the wind-attribute player fled with the Seven Knights IV-Type "Dorian Sandshade."
After leaving through the ancient lab's passage, Ember and her group appeared in a volcanic region. A massive castle made entirely of solidified volcanic rock was hidden deep within the magma.
No one knew how this castle had survived within the magma. Leon had no idea what Ember's group encountered or obtained in the castle, but it was evident that they found a magma vortex at the back of the castle. By this time, the Seven Knights IV-Type "Adrian Solis" had only half of its health left, and one of Ember's juniors had disappeared.
Ember controlled the Seven Knights IV-Type "Adrian Solis" to leap into the vortex, and the video recorded everything that happened as they moved through the magma.
Leon saw countless corpses hidden in the magma. These must have been the successive owners of this castle, the ones representing magma in the Seven Knights.
The corpses showed clear signs of change over generations. At the beginning, they still resembled humans, but in the middle stages, their bodies began shrinking, likely to adapt to the size of the mecha. In the later stages, near the original era of the Seven Knights, their bodies grew larger again, and they even sprouted fangs, making their skulls resemble wild boars.
What shocked Leon the most was the place where the magma spewed out: a massive valley surrounded by seven gigantic wild boar heads, each over a hundred meters tall.
The mouths of the boar heads were open, spewing various substances, including yellow sand, semi-liquefied lightning, vines, blue liquid, and the magma from which Ember's group emerged.
In the center of the valley stood nothing but a towering apple tree over a thousand meters tall. The roots of the tree had completely crystallized, resembling a crystal coffin guarding a princess's grave beneath the roots.
The princess's grave looked like a giant wild boar statue, and a necklace, the size of a normal human neck, lay in front of the statue.
Ember left her junior at the spot where they emerged. The large amount of lava had gathered into a lake of magma, where her junior was soaking the Seven Knights IV-Type "Adrian Solis," seemingly preparing some sort of magic circle.
Meanwhile, Ember walked into the valley on foot, following the apple tree roots to the princess's grave, and finally placing her hand above the necklace.
At this point, the details in the video showed a line of burning red text on the necklace: "Princess—First Prize."
When Ember read this line aloud, a small door opened at the bottom of the giant wild boar statue, and an ice staircase appeared before her.
Although she showed some disdain for the staircase, Ember still descended. Along the way, she encountered numerous enemies, most of which were huge white boar-men encased in ice. These creatures could breathe frost, slowing Ember's movement and, at times, even freezing people to death.
Fortunately, Ember had prepared for this and avoided the most heavily guarded areas. After descending the staircase, she didn't approach the nearby set of stairs but instead headed towards another passage.
Once she entered this passage, everything related to cold and ice slowly faded away. At the end of the passage, the door even showed traces of magma flowing down.
Gently pushing open the door, Ember was greeted by a hall covering an area of one thousand square meters, and in the center of the hall was the Seven Knights I-Type "Adrian Solis" mecha she had been searching for.