The Adventures of the Mask Maker

Questing Part 1: Ancient Pyramid

Questing time again. I got up early in the morning and headed over to the guild to look up some quests. Hmm, after choosing some quests, I showed them to the on-duty guild receptionist and acquired his approval. Today's quests will take a while...maybe a week. So, to prepare, I head over to the tavern and stock up on food, water, and alcohol. Then, I went to a general store and bought some necessities like tent and sleeping bag for camping and flint for fire making...can't use my fireballs since they will burn too fiercely. The quests I choose will be exploring places so I think it would be too inconvenient to bring Blackie. So, I decided to take Agaricus out for some experience gathering. Agaricus, these days, have been stored in my storage ring as he attempts to familiarize with his newfound powers. Now, you may wonder how I could store a polyp into my storage ring...well, Agaricus isn't really organic as he is technically an Undead.

Anyways, once everything was bought and prepared, I left the city and headed towards the Ancient Pyramid, my first destination, in the Sand Desert. After a few hours of journeying, I arrived at the entrance of the building. Now, according to the quest, there have been rumors of people who were thought to be "dead" reappearing near the vicinity and inside the pyramid. The owner of this pyramid was scared out of his wits and has requested the guild's services. I walked up to the owner who described that the pyramid was a tomb for his ancestor. He pointed out that he saw flicking lights deep inside the pyramid and went in to check. To his horror, he saw faces of people who he thought should have killed by his greedy tyrant of an ancestor so many years ago. Naturally, he did not take a closer look and exited the pyramid immediately.

Nodding with understanding of the situation, I told him to wait for my return outside. Then, I unlocked the sealed doors and ventured in. Not yet 10 meters into the large pyramid, I began to sense a slight disturbance in the surroundings. The air or rather the atmosphere of the environment had become thick and slimy feeling. There's a rotten smell of corpse and preservatives. Suddenly, my ears picked up a distinct ghostly sound. Immediately covering my ears, I scanned my surroundings carefully. The sound was the wail of a Vengeful Ghost - a powerful sound attack that can poison the minds of the victims causing dizziness, confusion, disillusionment, and even paralysis if exposed for too long. As I continued to scan around me, I caught sight of some small movements to my left and to my right. It seems the causes are here. Now there are many ways to appease Vengeful Ghosts. The easiest is to kill the cause of their deaths, however, their cause had long died and I can't kill the current owner who is also the client. Need to build up trust with clients in order to ensure future prospects.

Anyways, I can try to talk to it. Hopefully they are only at the Vengeful Ghost stage. What I mean by this is that a group of Vengeful Ghosts will constantly leak out a type of emotion fused with dark essence called Hatred. After a certain number of years of constant leaking of Hatred, the Hatred will form into a new being that is much more powerful than a Vengeful Ghost.

Anyways, as the Vengeful Ghosts approached me, I greeted them using the Language of the Ghosts hoping that they are not too obsessed and cannot hear my words, "Greetings vengeful ones. I am called Khaos, an adventurer. I come bearing peace and harmony."

*WWWAAAAIIIIILLLLLL!!* It seems they have stopped moving but they still wailed constantly. So, I continued, "I offer you peace...a way to appease your suffering. Will you accept?"

Hearing this, some of the Vengeful Ghosts stopped wailing and stared at me intently. Then, one of them spoke, "Will you kill the owner of this pyramid?"

Naturally, the ghost was referring to the original owner and not the current one. I shook my head and answered, "The owner and the cause of your grievances had died many, many years ago."

"Then, what can you do to appease us? If the owner is dead then, kill off all his descendants!"

"I can offer you a proper burial ritual to let your souls rest in peace. Please, don't be unreasonable as to kill off innocent people. Don't blame the faults of the ancestor on the descendants. You were once people too and you should know this as well."

Many ghosts nodded, their complexions better and less angry. They seemed to found some inner peace as they agreed to my offer. With a wave of my hand, I manipulated their Spirit Essence into separate vials - each ghost in each vial. After finishing, I looked up and see one more ghost left. I asked him what he wanted to do.

"I agree as well...but I must warn you...we...our constant anguish had created something more sinister that lurks in the deep corridors of this wretched place."

"Don't tell me...a Hatred was formed?!"

"Yes...I believe that's what you call it, but I'm not too sure."

"Don't worry about it. If its a Hatred, then it's no big deal. I will be able to handle it." I replied as I waved my hand again and manipulated the last Vengeful Ghost's Spirit Essence into a vial.

After I corked and stored the vials back into my bag, I venture deeper into the hallway to meet with the Hatred. As I walk further in, I could sense a deep terrible feeling as if something extremely dangerous is in my midst...hiding...watching me. I shrugged off this feeling and brought out Agaricus and had him feed on the dark miasma. As I venture forth with Agaricus close behind, I looked around for clues on where the Hatred could be hiding. Suddenly, I heard a swoosh. With my guard up, I turned to meet the source of the sound. My eyes widened in horror as I saw my opponent. This was not Hatred...but an evolved form known as Anguish. I jumped back to evade its attack. Anguish is formed after Hatred becomes so thick that its body solidifies. Anguish comes in many forms. The one I'm looking at currently looks humanoid. I am not prepared enough to take on this monster. This vile monster is very tough with high defense and high vitality. In addition, it has increases in strength and speed. Now judging from the size of this 9 foot monster, it is still in its early stages of the evolution. Don't know about its special abilities as they differ with each Anguish, but the common unique ability that all Anguish have is the active skill 'Darkness Boost' where strength, defense, and speed increases 10% every 5 minutes while in the dark and health and stamina replenishes 25% every 10 minutes. To kill this monster, one needs to be proficient in Holy abilities as it is immune to other affinities and it feeds on Chaos and Darkness type abilities.

With a Dragon's Roar, I pushed it back and hurriedly exited the pyramid with Agaricus stored back into my storage ring. I closed the doors and placed a seal on the doors and the surrounding walls. This is to prevent Anguish from leaving the pyramid. Maybe someone else with the necessary requirements can come and destroy this vile creature. After sealing up the place, I told the owner that the "people who died" are gone but because there is a vile monster still inside, it is best that he does not enter it until another more capable adventurer comes to finish it off.

Finished, I walked off into the distance. After a few miles, I arrive at a nearby grassland, and drew up a burial ritual on the ground. I poured out the Spirit Essence of the Vengeful Ghosts and buried them properly. Their vengeance disappeared and their essence dispersed as they prepared to attend the reincarnation cycles.

Done, I hurried back and reported my findings and success. The Vengeful Ghosts have been put to rest but there is still the matter of the Anguish located deep in the pyramid. I've sealed off the doors and the surrounding walls so the monster can't escape. But I think Villain will be here later to kill it.

 

Questing Part 2: Ashen Boneyard

After turning in my results for the Ancient Pyramid, I headed north to the Ashen Boneyard in the Ashen Plains. According to the quest report, the Ashen Boneyard had a lot more ash than normal and a local ashenologist said that there were too much ash to be natural and that the grounds may have been part of a sort of ancient incineration site. The purpose of my job is to go and check out the site to confirm whether or not the ashenologist's assumptions were correct.

After finishing eating lunch, I head over to the site. Hours later, I arrived at the scene. Wow, there is a lot of ash...at least 5 feet deep full of solidified compressed ash. After searching quite some time, I could not find any traces of man-made incineration. Isn't the local ashenologist wrong? Isn't this just a regular old piece of ash-filled land? Looking around, I see some mountains nearby. Could some of those mountains be inactive volcanoes? Then, wouldn't these ash come from those volcanoes?

Deciding that the cause of the ash was due to the volcanoes, I prepared to turn around and leave. However, I suddenly sensed a faint demonic feeling. I scoured the land carefully once more to look for any clues to what the cause of the demonic feeling was. I walked deeper into the Ashen Boneyard and wandered around for a bit. I could feel my essence being drawn out ever so slightly...this feeling was familiar...but I could not figure out what it was. Shock hit me as I realized after careful thinking. This feeling...I hope it isn't what I think it is. I pulled out a shovel from my storage ring and started digging the ash.

After clearing out five feet deep worth of ash, I was able to confirm my realization...I was right. What laid on the ground before me...was ancient demonic symbols/runes. Feeling the symbols, I could feel the residue energy from it. I was right...this isn't a incineration site...but a demonic ritual grounds. These symbols/runes are part of a very large ritual circle. From what I gathered, these ash must be from humans...to have five feet deep spanning over a kilometer diameter of ash must have required more than 5 billion humans and other humanoids. They must have been trapped or sealed within the ritual circle and burned to ash with demonic fire. Judging by the shape of the symbols, I gathered that they were drawn by Acolytes of the Abyss - an ancient order of demonic worshipers consist of non-human and non-humanoid supremacists. They were trying to summon something evil with all these sacrifices and I can tell that the summoning was successful. I dread at the thought of what was summoned.... Could have been a powerful demon...but knowing that the world wasn't destroyed, I figured that the demon must have been killed or sealed...somewhere, maybe nearby.

I reported the findings to the ashenologist, who looked stricken at the answer. I left hurriedly back to the guild to report the findings as well. As I talked with the guild receptionist, I told him that the guild should send someone or a group to the site and see if they can clear away the ash and remove the ritual circle since it's still drawn but because there are no more sacrifices, it can't activate. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry, am I right? Also, I told him that maybe someone should scout the region to see if they can find out whether or not the demon is killed or sealed...if sealed, find out where but don't attack as the demon is very powerful.

 

Questing Part 3: Cure to Therianthropy

Next on my list of quests is a set of risky...risky quests. I decided to move to the nearby Verdant Forest to prevent any distractions/interference/interruptions. The original quest requested by the Werebeast clan was to find a cure to their "disease" or "curse" depending on the Werebeast. There are two general types of Werebeasts:

1. Those who look human most of the times and can change when needed
   
2. Those who are permanently transformed

Make sure, however, you don't confuse the second category with Beastmen. Beastmen cannot change into a human no matter what cure is used. Now, some would like to have a cure at hand in case they have to merge in with the Human society while others would like to use it to permanently rid themselves of their Werebeast status so that they could enter the Human society to live as humans. Naturally, there are those who do not want to become human so the cure wouldn't apply to them. Anyways, I can not test experimental cures on the Werebeasts...who knows what kind of dangerous side effects can occur and if a Werebeast were to die because of the experiments, that would be detrimental to the trust of our prospective clients/allies. So, the guild has issued a prerequisite quest in order to take on the quest made by the Werebeasts...turn into a Werebeast. Why this is risky? Well, do you have confidence in creating a safe cure? I know I don't.

Now, there are many different ways for Non-Werebeasts to become Werebeasts:

1. Get bitten
2. Get scratched
3. Consume Werebeast blood
4. Get cursed to become a Werebeast by a Witch
5. Eat Beast and Human meat that were sacrificed in front of a demon altar
6. Contract a pact with a demon
7. Eat the petals of a Beast Flower grown by using a Werebeast as fertilizer
8. Werebeast potion
9. Lastly, the more dubious method...drinking the water collected at the footprint of a Werebeast in its transformed state

All these methods for becoming one...yet there isn't a safe way to cure it. Now what did I mean by "safe" cure? Well, there is a known cure so far...and that is to kill the one who turned you into a Werebeast. Of course for those who are born as Werebeasts, the only way is to kill the original Spirit Beast God Therian. However, there are two problems to that:

1. It is near impossible to accomplish this feat
2. Once Therian dies, all Werebeasts will become human even those who do not want to change...so you can see the opposition in that.

Anyways, back to becoming a Werebeast. I guess I'll take the third option - consume some Werebeast blood. Now, in my storage ring, I have some Werewolf corpses that have been kept fresh. So, I took one out and drew out a shot of blood. The blood was watery and black...like ink. Here goes nothing...with a flip of my head, I downed the glass of Werewolf blood. Grimaced at the bitter and sour taste, I anxiously wait for the transformation to begin. Suddenly, my heart started beating very hard and very loud. My eyes bulged as blood started rushing to my head. Feeling dizzy, I fell on my knees. Pain shoots out from every corner as I knelt there on the ground on all fours. Without warning, my muscles began to move and change...my bones began to change. My eyesight blurred a while as hair start growing from every part of my body. At a climax moment, I tilted my head backwards and howled as my transformation neared completion. Once completed, I collapsed on the ground exhausted.

After becoming a Werewolf, I developed a sudden urge to run...to hunt...to kill. Logic and reasoning escapes my mind as I start running through the forest. After an hour, I woke up...how...when did I fall asleep?...I turned around to look, it was dark outside. I could taste something wet...furry...iron.... Oh fuck...please don't be human. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I scanned the ground...until my eyes landed on the corpse near me - half eaten and...thankfully only a deer. Whew! I looked at myself and found that I am still transformed. I guess I passed the prerequisite...turn into a Werebeast complete!

Once I calmed down and began to think rationally. I decided to first clean myself. After I finished washing myself in a nearby stream, I opened my Maker's Domain. Thank goodness I can still use my skills otherwise things would have been awkward and depressing. With my Maker's Domain activated, time becomes irrelevant inside. Thousands of years inside the domain is barely half a second outside. The timer on my blackouts and such will not be affected...thankfully, I won't have to worry about blacking out again while in my domain. With this thought, I can research a cure in peace.

There are many directions I can take to cure Werebeast-ism...or the more scientific term - therianthropy. For the methods of turning, methods 1, 2, 3, and 7 can be seen as a transferring of a virus and can be considered curable via medicinal means. Methods 4, 8, and 9 can be seen as a curse and can be considered curable via magical means. Lastly, methods 5 and 6 can be seen as a demonic possession of sorts and can be considered curable via exorcism. Each of the three main categories can be branched off into countless of subcategories. Given my current capabilities, I think going with the medicinal direction is the best possible choice. Besides, some Werebeasts want a cure at hand so something like exorcism or magical which requires immediate use might not be appropriate.

Having decided to choose the medical approach, I began extracting some of the Werewolf blood and started studying it. Then, using advanced Blood Manipulation, I was able to find that the blood contained three main components:

1. Regular blood
2. Wolf-type genetic material
3. An unknown substance...which I believe must be the Werebeast virus

The wolf-type genetic material seems to be in a symbiotic relation with the Werebeast virus. When I separated the Werebeast virus from the wolf-type genetic material, the genetic material denaturizes and becomes inactive. Next, I was able to extract the strain of Werebeast virus...or mutation if you preferred to call it that...and placed the strain in a vial. To make a cure out of the virus, there are two known ways to use.

The first way is to weaken the virus where the virus is weakened so that it becomes dormant but there is a chance that this method will not produce the necessary result and would further boost the immunity towards similar cures. Thus, I shook my head and decided not to use this method. The second method is to use destroy the virus by making a cure that only targets the virus. This method generally uses a different types of valuable and rare plants to make the cure and thousands of years to test it...but I don't have the resources for such an expensive experiment, so I decided to use the more painful option - lots and lots of heat.

Now...how much heat is enough to fully destroy the virus? I take the vial containing the virus and held it in place. Then, I started to heat the vial. Generally, if successful, the virus will denaturize and disperses into harmless components. However, how much heat will it take would depend on the strength of the virus. After heating the vial to an unbelievable intensity of 1000 degrees or about as hot as lava, the virus finally denaturized and dispersed. Now we're getting somewhere.

While in my domain, I cast out a few fireballs and started to manipulate the Fire Essence of the fireballs and extracted the essence out. Then, I started to manipulate the extracted essence in order to make it hotter. In addition, I removed the Flames of Wrath in order prevent any mishaps from occurring. Once the Fire Essence reached about 1000 degrees, I added some of my blood filled with Maker's Essence and started kneading the mixture. After compressing the mixture while chanting many incantations, I made a pill. This pill, when consumed, will burn the Werebeast virus away...however, there is a problem - the pill is too hot. We don't want the consumer to die from internal burning or lighting up with fire so to speak. So, I reached in my bag and grabbed a large chunk of Eternal Ice. Take a small piece from it, I extracted the Ice Essence from it and increase the coldness to about -1000 degrees in order to counteract the pill. Then, I mixed the essence with a few drops of my blood filled with Maker's Essence. After some more chanting and mixing, I finished the liquid. Taking out a small piece of wood and some string, I made a necklace. I marked the necklace with the liquid while chanting incantations of binding and fusion. The liquid spread evening on the necklace before fusing into the necklace.

Finally done, I deactivated my domain and put on the necklace while eating the pill. Immediately, I feel the effects of the pill as it started to target the virus within me. Without the necklace, I can see that I would burn to death if I didn't have high fire resistance. The necklace was perfect in counteracting the heat of the pill without disrupting the actual purpose of the pill. After a few minutes, I revert back to my human form. To make sure that the cure is permanent, I stayed in the forest for a few more days. Luckily, the cure was permanent. Finally, I opened my domain again and start mass producing the pills and necklaces until I produced 200 pills and 200 necklaces. I name the pills - Therian's Bane and the necklace - Summer's Relief.

Done, I head back to the guild to report my success. Werebeast cure complete I told them...made 200 Therian's Bane pills and 200 Summer's Relief necklaces which can be given to the Werebeast clan when they need it. I'll leave it with the guild for safekeeping for now.

 

Questing Part 4: Successful Trade

After the ordeal of becoming a Werewolf and finding the cure, I decided to take the "Establish transit to Far East Islands" quest and the Slay 1 Sea Serpent quest. First, I decided to go to the Treacherous Ports in the far eastern past of the Unknown Lands. Maybe I'll be able to negotiate for a permanent boat to use for transportation.

Using Roaming the Skies, I flew all the way to the Treacherous Ports without any interruptions. Upon arriving, I see a group of bandits led by Westby Claridge. They must have saw my Dragon Avatar form. When I landed, I cupped my hands in greeting.

"Nice to see you again Treacherous Ports Master."

"Haha, not yet, not yet...but soon."

"I can help make that happen...for a price."

"Haha, as always, I see your mind is on business. Tell me, what is your purpose here? Is it to trade again?"

"You can put it that way. I came here today as representative of the Adventurer City. My purpose for coming is to establish a transit to the Far East Islands. Do you think you can give me...or rather, trade me access to a boat for...oh, I don't know...something important and profitable to you?"

"Hmm, can you guarantee no harm to be done to my brethren by your fellow adventurers if I give you guys free access to this port?"

"Yes, I guarantee it."

"I don't trust those words. I need someone of a higher social standing than you...say your guild's guildmaster or a staff member to personally come here to sign a written contract. Don't worry, I will give you face and not cheat your guild with loopholes."

"Um, okay, that can work. I'll just tell Shadow to come by. He works for the guild. So, now that that worry is solved, should we move on with the trade?"

"Fine, how about this...I'll take up on your earlier suggestion. For access to a boat just for you guys plus crew members who will navigate the boat to the Far East Islands, I want you to drive off the remnants of the Pirate group in this port. Can you do that?"

"Naturally, you can leave it to me."

After being pointed out that most of the pirates...in order to regroup from the fighting, left on their main fleet and are currently somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Being bandits and lacking certain sailing skills, Westby and his group could not chase after and could only wait on land. Accepting the task, I jumped into the air and using Roaming the Skies, I flew into the skies. After scouring the ocean, I finally found a large group of pirate ships...unluckily for them, they just encountered several giant Sea Serpents and are engaging in combat. Nice! I can finish the task given by the bandit leader and kill some Sea Serpents...two birds with one stone. Diving downwards with my skinning knife in one hand, I started off with a few fireballs at some of the ships. Then, very quickly, I beheaded one of the Sea Serpents. After sinking some ships and finishing off the last Sea Serpent. I stored their bodies into my storage ring and continued sinking ships.

Minutes later, only one ship remained...the biggest one and most likely the captain's ship. I boarded the burning ship and killed any pirate stragglers. I approached the cabin and kicked open the door. *BANG!* A gunshot sounded off and a bullet hit me in my right shoulder, exiting through the other side. I winced in pain. Using Flow Like Wind, I appeared in front of the Pirate King and kicked him in the stomach. He flew backwards and dropped his gun.

I looked at the collapsed Pirate King and pointed my knife at his throat. "A pitiful end to a pitiful Pirate King."

"Hahaha...you thought I was the Pirate King? I'm just a small fry. The Pirate King is as strong as Leviathans. My life is connected to a soulstone. When I die, the soulstone will break and he will immediately know who killed me. Prepare yourselves...hahahah!"

Shrugged at his threat, I killed the false Pirate King. With the last of the pirates dead, I headed back to the port and told Westby. Satisfied with the results and not too surprised that the "Pirate King" was a fake, he gave me a token that will grant free unhindered access to the user and told me to give it to the guild staff member who will come to sign the contract. Westby said that by the time the staff member arrives, he will have a large ship prepared and ready.

I took the token (let's call it Westby's Token) and headed home. I reported the results to Shadow, the guild receptionist currently on duty. "Pirates at the Treacherous Ports are mostly extinguished so the pirate quests are probably done. Westby's Token is given to you so you must take it and go sign a contract with Westby Claridge the current leader of the Treacherous Ports. He has already given us a ship and crew, just need your agreement to his conditions - no attacking the bandits in Treacherous Ports. Also, it seems the pirates were only a small group of the much larger faction. Oh and also, just to clarify with the new quests regarding Highwaymen...in the Treacherous Ports, it is ruled by the Bandit Leader Westby "The Butcher" Claridge and his group of Silver Bandits. After successfully destroying a rival group (the Pirates), they were able to obtain ownership of the ports. However, recently, there is a small faction of Highwaymen - people/bandits who did not want to pledge loyalty to the Silver Bandits - stirring up trouble. The Treacherous Ports has sent us requests to 'thin their herd'."

..........

Some thousands of miles away in a large island....

..........

*CRAACCKK!* A small glowing stone within a large number of similar glowing stones shattered and crumbled into pieces. The person attending the stones saw that shattered stone and immediately rushed outside. He ran towards a large building and entered. Inside, a large man (this must be the Pirate King) sat in a throne-like chair made from monster bones and furs. To the left and right side of the man sat various strange looking men and women. They were holding some sort of meeting when they looked up at the disruption.

"What is it?" The Pirate King commanded.

"Sir, one of the soulstones shattered." The man reported.

"WHAT?!" The Pirate King roared in surprise as the some of the surrounding men and women jumped to their feet as well. "Who's soulstone is it?"

"It's Chief Petty Officer - Pirate Elwell the Mad."

"Hmph...don't scare me like that...just a small fry. Tell me, what happened to him?"

"He was killed...according to the soulstone, he was killed by an adventurer called Khaos."

"Hmph! Insolent adventurers. Those damned adventurers keep hindering my path. Sound the horns! Place a bounty on this Khaos...500 gold for his head!"

 

Wanted

Taking my quests, I hurried out of the guild. With a leap into the air, I used Roaming the Skies and flew eastwards towards the Crooked Mountains in the East Barrier Mountains. Upon arriving at the Crooked Mountain, I begin to "sense" around for Living Stone. Now Living Stones are originally stones but have been constantly struck or charged by lightning that somewhere along the line, the ordinary stones became Living Stones pulsating with life. After sensing around, I was finally able to find some. However, there were a lot of Living Golems wandering around the Living Stones. Since, I only need to mine one Living Stone, then I should just do a "quick in, quick out" strategy. Once I decided on my plan of action, I began to approach the Golems.

As soon as the majority of the Golems are grouped closely together, I Dragon Leap into the cluster, knocking them back and onto the ground. Before they could get up, I pulled out my Skinning Knife, swiped at a nearby Living Stone, and sliced off a chunk of Living Stone. Then, immediately after, I jumped back into the air and using Roaming the Skies, I flew away. Heading south of the Crooked Mountains, I approach my next destination - Crooked Mountain Castle.

Reports have shown that there are many Storm Elementals and Lightning Wisps wandering the main halls of the ruined castle. The quest entails collecting Lightning Essence, which is basically the Lightning Wisps in its dispersed and raw form. After arriving at the location, I grabbed my Ghost Mask and turned invisible. Wandering into the main hall, I spot a number of Storm Elementals and Lightning Wisps. Taking out a bottle, I began using Essence Manipulation on the nearest Lightning Wisp. The Lightning Wisp struggled for a while before exploding and dispersing into its raw form. The essence is then collected into the bottle. The surrounding Storm Elementals and Lightning Wisps are wary of what had occurred, but because they did not see me, they could only raise their guards and wander about more cautiously. Taking advantage of my invisibility, I continue extracting Lightning Essence until the bottle was filled.

After I finished, I quickly left the castle. I flew further east towards the Lamia Hive in the Sacred Land of Orcs. When I arrived near the Lamia Hive, I spot a battle occurring. Now, when people hear about a battle at Lamia Hive, they usually think it is between Lamias and Orcs or Lamias with humans. However, what surprised me was that the battle was between a group of Lamias with a group of Ogres. Since when did the Orcs successfully evolved and bred Ogres? This is newsworthy and I need to report this to the guild. While the battle quickly comes to an end, the Lamias lost and they retreated towards their Hive. As they retreated, I took out my Ghost Mask and approached one of them from the side. With a thrust of my hand, I phased its heart out. Using the Hit-and-Run strategy, I ran immediately after killing the Lamia.

Looking at the sky, I realize its almost dark. The sun is quickly descending. I sped up towards the Treacherous Ports for my last two quests. Along the way, Lady Luck came by to say hi. In front of me...blocking my path...is a group of about twenty Highwaymen led by a Highwaymen Lieutenant.

"Hand over all your valuables!" The Lieutenant commanded.

"No." I answered with a snort.

"Then die! Men get him!"

The Highwaymen and the Lieutenant charged towards me. Strange...with just me (one person), do they need to have everyone charge over? It's like they know of my prowess...suspicious. I pulled out my Skinning Knife and met their charge. *SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!* After a number of slashes, I killed off everyone except the Lieutenant. For him, I chopped off his weapon arm.

I pointed the knife at him and said, "Speak! Who sent you?"

The Lieutenant closed his mouth refusing to speak and continued to glare at me. I did not have the patience and so I castrated him.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" The Lieutenant screamed in pain.

"Speak! Or I'll slit you throat!" I venomously voiced.

"Ok, ok, I'll speak. It's this bounty - 500 gold for your death." The crippled cried out as he pulled out a wanted poster. "Will you spare me?"

"No." I said as I took the poster. It did not have my picture, but my name, occupation, and details were on there plus the 500 gold reward for my death...and only my death, "Those damned Pirates!"

"But you said you won't cut my throat!"

"I did." I said as I fired a fireball at the unlucky bastard.

The Highwaymen Lieutenant screamed as he burned to death. I reported my killings to the Treacherous Ports and then headed back to the guild.

 

Increased Security

Got many things to do so I'll quickly speed through some quests. I walked into the guild and chose 6 slaying quests - 3 B rank, 3 A rank. I look through my map and plan for the best, shortest route to take. After deciding on the path to take, I hurriedly left the guild and called for Blackie. Jumping on Blackie, I headed towards the first destination - the North Mountains.

Scouring the skies, I spot a Roc flying towards a cave...must be its nest. I urged Blackie to charge towards the enemy. Once the Roc was in range, I fired a fireball fueled with the Flames of Wrath at the Roc. The Roc screeched in pain before crashing to the foot of the mountains. It rolled around trying to put out the fire, but to no avail. The fire continued to burn fiercely until the Roc died. Leaving the Roc to burn to ash, I hurried over to the giant beanstalk in the vicinity. While following the length of the beanstalk, we ascended to the clouds. Upon entering the clouds, we arrived at the place where Cloud Giants lived.

Ever since the increasingly number of Cloud Giant deaths by adventurers, the land of the Cloud Giants have become very vigilant. Patrol guards have increased and there is even a small army camped out along the borders of the town. A wall has been erected with gates and archer towers replaced the guard towers. In short, defenses and security have increased by triple. However, that's just good for me - more people means higher chance to kill someone...sure there will be less chance to go for a solo kill, but with my stealth capabilities, it won't be a problem.

I grabbed my Ghost Mask and turned invisible. Floating near the soldiers encampment, I approached a tent. As luck would have it, there was a soldier sitting near a table, back turned towards me, and writing on some notes. Approaching the soldier, I suddenly freeze because the soldier turned around abruptly. Did he see me? Impossible!

"Strange, I thought I felt some killing intent coming towards me?" The soldier muttered, scratching his head, "Must be my imagination."

Whoops, so I was leaking too much killing aura. Calm mind....calm heart...calmness....and SLASH! Death...came to bring away the soul of the soldier...but there was no soul to bring. Why? Well, I fed the soul to Agaricus for his breakfast. After killing the Cloud Giant, I left the camp and descended back to the ground below.

Continuing north, I arrive at the Ash Plains where as usual, Lady Luck comes and helps me out. Five deer like Ash Beasts were grazing the blackish, purplish plants on the ground. I hopped off of Blackie and Dragon Leap in the middle of the group. The shock stunned the five Ash Beasts and I threw Agaricus at them. Agaricus got to work and quickly consumed them all.

Then, we got back on Blackie and flew straight for Lamia Hive. Upon arriving, I dropped Agaricus onto a Lamia. As Agaricus fell, he opened up his mouth and *GULP!*...swallowed the Lamia whole. After killing the Lamia, we flew towards the ocean. Now I can't drop Agaricus in the ocean since he doesn't have very high Water resistance and will be disadvantaged in the waters. So, I took a deep breath and jumped into the water. Using Dragon Roar, I shook the waters causing an explosion underwater. The force of the explosion expelled water upwards like a geyser. When the water cleared, nothing. Receiving the mental transmission from Blackie that there was nothing, I continued swimming underwater and Dragon Roaring a few more times until my breath ran out. I swam upwards and breathed in a breath of fresh air. Going back down, I did this process a few more times, until finally, a Lesser Kraken appears. Blackie, seeing the Lesser Kraken, flew towards it and chewed off a huge chunk of the Lesser Kraken. When I swam upwards, I boarded on top of Blackie and waited as the dead Lesser Kraken floated on the waters, its blood seeping out and painting the waters red.

After a few minutes, a Sea Serpent, lured by the smell of blood, appeared. Taking advantage of the distracted Sea Serpent, I jumped towards the emerged Sea Serpent and beheaded the Sea Serpent with my skinning knife.

Finished, I return back to the guild.

 

Skirmishes with Morian and Retaliation

Upon arriving at the borders of the Rainforest Vale, I immediately began to use Essence Manipulation to control two types of essences in the plants nearby. Morian's Essence had rooted itself deeply in the plants, completely mixing and blending in with the plants' essence. After a few minutes of pulling and exerting, I was able to pull all of the Morian's Essence from the plants' essence. I collected the essence and stored it in a jar. I was just about to finishing gathering my second batch when a giant Guardian Dragon flew out of nowhere and barreled towards me. I jumped backwards to dodge, losing focus and letting the Morian's Essence back into the second batch of plants.

Fortunately, before I let go of the Morian's Essence, I secretly injected some of my Maker's Essence and mixed it into the Morian's Essence. When the Morian-Maker Essence mix mixed back into the plants, I could feel the essence coursing through the plants and back to Morian's main body. Because my Maker's Essence cannot be sensed by beings that cannot generate their own Maker's Essence, they would not be able to feel or sense my Maker's Essence coursing through their veins or in their vicinity. Anyways, back to the real problem at hand. I peeked at the Guardian Dragon and found that it was a Poison Dragon. Wonderful! I needed some poison to train my Thousand Poison Art.

The Poison Dragon charged towards me, mouth open as if getting ready to fire something. Just as it was about to do so, I used Flow Like Wind and appeared below the dragon, under its mouth. With a powerful Dragon Palm upwards at its bare chin, I knocked its mouth closed just as the first vestige of its Acid Breath appeared. With the mouth closed, the dragon's Acid Breath backfired and went up its nose, melting the insides. The dragon jerked its head upwards and squinted in pain. Taking advantage of the moment, I took out my Skinning knife and slit the dragon's throat and chest with two very fast slashes in succession. The Poison Dragon groaned and collapsed, dying. I walked to the side and thrust my knife in, penetrating the heart and ending its misery.

Afterwards, I stored the dragon into my ring and left. However, before I stepped out of the Rainforest Vale, a wave of visions/mental messages attacked me. I stumbled and collapsed outside the borders of the Rainforest Vale and into the East Barrier Mountains. My mind could not process the overload of information and collapsed. When, I came to, it was dark. Luckily, the place I fainted at was devoid of living things. I cannot remember much of the mental attack...all I could remember is pain...despise...sadness...imprisonment...and...and...Morian's bastard?!

..........

The next day, I went to collect more Morian's Essence from the plants in the Rainforest Vale. As I walked towards the destination, I saw a few hundred figures flying in the sky from the direction of the Rainforest Vale. As the figures draw nearer, I see that they were dragons...hundreds upon hundreds of dragons! There were Earth-type, Poison-type, and even Plant-type dragons. Upon closer examination with my Essence Manipulation, I can see that there are some dual-type dragons as well. These dragons...where did come from and where are they going? Could it be? Could they be Morian's Guardian Dragons? But why are they flying away from the place they're tasked to guard? I looked behind me at the direction the dragons were flying towards...isn't that Adventurer's City?!

Morian...he must have summoned most of his Guardian Dragons and sent them to besiege Adventurer's City! I immediately put on my mask - Mask of the Bomber and summoned Shadow. I told Shadow of the situation and then de-summoned him. When Shadow left, he left behind a normal clockwork spider. I stored the spider into my storage ring. Seeing the last of the dragon vanguard army flying away, I jumped into the sky and pulled out my Skinning Knife. With a swipe, I beheaded one of the unsuspecting Guardian Dragons. The other dragons were too busy focusing on their destination that they did not notice the death of one of their comrades. I quickly stored the Plant-type Guardian Dragon corpse and went on my way.

As I approached the borders of Rainforest Vale, I started manipulating the essences in the plants - separating Morian's Essence from the plants' essence. For every 6 parts of the Morian's Essence I extracted, I mix my Maker's Essence with the other 4 parts and fuse them back into the plants. After extracting a few vials, I sensed a disturbance within the trees with my skill Flow of Trees. Morian must have sensed my actions and has made a move against me. I jumped back out of the Rainforest Vale, but a ripple of destruction smashed into me. This ripple attempted to rip my soul from my body...but because I do not have a soul or rather my soul is bound to my body, I survived the ripple. Seeing me still alive, another ripple shot towards me from the distance. This time, this ripple attacked my body and attempted to vaporize me. As I "died" I used Rebirth by Fire and resurrected. At this time, I have left and hurriedly flew back to the guild. That was a close call.

..........

After reporting the situation of the dragons, I headed out once more to go collect some Morian's Essence. Arriving near the borders of the Rainforest Vale, I quickly collected Morian's Essence using Essence Manipulation. My efficiency and proficiency have increased significantly from previous quests and such things like extracting essence is easy. After extracting a batch of essence, I noticed a disturbance in the trees using Flow of Trees. Not wanting to experience what I had last time, I immediately left the premises. Reporting back to the guild after this short quest, I wholeheartedly prepared for the upcoming siege.

 

The Dragons' Invasion: Day 1

Knowing that the dragons are speedily approaching the city, I set forth to intercept them and try to slow their paths down so that the citizens of the city can safely evacuate on time. First, I need to prepare. I flew north on top of Blackie towards the Frost Giant camp. Currently, all the Frost Giants are waging war with the Fire Giants, so I safely infiltrated the camp and stole a bunch of Eternal Ice shards - about 1000 of them. After looting the camp, I flew forward with Blackie as fast as we can. After a few minutes, we arrived a distance in front of the approaching doom. The dragons are still in the middle of the East Barrier Mountains somewhere around Snowy Mountain. They have sent some scouts ahead but the main army is still here. Reaching through my bag, I pull out all the Eternal Ice shards and started using Essence Manipulation to extract the Frost Essence inside the shards. Minutes later, a gigantic swirling ball of Frost Essence appeared before me as cracked and empty Eternal Ice shards lay at my feet.

With one hand keeping the giant ball of Frost Essence afloat in the air, I reached into my bag once again with my other hand and pull out the mask - Mask of the Frost Giant. Wearing the mask, I feel a significant increase in my Ice-type capabilities. I manipulate the giant swirling ball of Frost Essence and sent it into the clouds above. Manipulating the essence and integrating them into the clouds, I was able to summon a huge blizzard covering an area from the Junkyard to the Snowy Mountain. The blizzard raged onto the flying dragons, slowing their pace considerably. The Poison-type and Plant-type dragons continued flying but fortunately, the Earth-type and Dual-type dragons could not. Their joints were frozen stiff from the blizzard and they had to land to recuperate and wait for the storm to end.

This blizzard of mine will rage on for a day and the slow effects will last for thirty minutes even after the dragons leave the blizzard's range. As I let the Poison Dragons and the Plant Dragons continue on past me, I charged over to the Earth Dragons and Dual-type Dragons on the ground below. The dragons see me but they reacted too late due to the slow effects. I hopped off Blackie and Dragon Leap near a group of Earth Dragons. The shockwave of my landing rumbled the earth and knocked back a few of the dragons. Using Storming the Dragons, I arrived in front of my first target - an Earth-type Dragon. I rammed into its side with my Skinning Knife in hand. *PUCHI!* My Skinning Knife pierced through the rock-hard skin like tofu. Spinning around, I pulled out the knife and beheaded the Earth Dragon. *BAM!* A giant rock smashed into my back and knocked the breath out of me. Gasping for air, I rolled aside and got back to my feet. I rolled again in front of another Earth Dragon and jumped just as another giant rock came flying towards me. *CRAASSHHH!!* The giant boulder smashed into the unlucky dragon, knocking it to its side. Taking advantage of this, I aimed my knife at the soft spot of the belly of the collapsed dragon and disemboweled it.

Using Flow Like Wind, I swished around the group of dragons, swiftly dodging the incoming rock attacks, dealing some lacerations, and collecting corpses. Three more Earth Dragons and one Dual-type dragon died by my hands. After a few minutes, I felt a slight dizziness and fogginess in my eyes. Surprise appeared on my face! I've been poisoned! The Dual-type dragons have been leaking out an odorless poisonous gas! Covering my mouth, I immediately turned tail and ran. Using what little strength I have left, I beheaded two more Earth Dragons and collected their corpses. I was lucky that they cannot move well due to the slow effects. I hopped onto Blackie and we flew away back to the city.

..........

At night....

..........

Venturing out into the night, I speedily rushed towards the grounded Earth Dragons and Dual-type dragons near the Snowy Mountain using Flow Like Wind. Upon arriving, I nod in satisfaction at the still-raging blizzard storm. The grounded dragons are too tired from resisting the slow effects that they are all in hibernation while recuperating. Stealthily, I put on my Ghost Mask and turned invisible. With not a single noise, I floated towards the sleeping dragons. Skinning knife raised, I *SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!* and beheaded three Earth Dragons. The remaining dragons stirred in their sleep as they sensed the lingering smell of blood. But they were too tired to care. I checked to see whether the dragons are still asleep or not. Upon confirmation that they were, I proceeded to chop three more Earth Dragons to their deaths - silently, but quickly.

After killing 6 Earth Dragons, I didn't want to take any more risks as I see more dragons stirring restlessly, so I collected the corpses and headed back to the guild.

 

Intermission and Shop

Opens Maker's Domain, I take out a bunch of corpses and started extracting their blood and made many, many blood pills from them. Then, I took must of the raw essences I had on hand and converted them into essence drops. Afterwards, I made some more Therian's Bane and Summer's Relief. Upon finishing making the products, I proceeded towards the tavern.

"Society of Makers: Shop is available now. Selling blood pills, Therian's Bane pills, Summer's Relief necklaces, and essence drops at the moment. Come buy while supplies last. We also buy useless materials/resources/weapons from you as well. We can also help sell your products for a small fee of 1%." I broadcasted in the streets and in the tavern.

"Can I have two Earth Dragon Blood Pills? It's 200 gold right?" @LittleFox21 aka Dancchi replied as she reached in her bag to pull out 200 gold.

"Yes it is, here is your pills." I answered as I gave two pills to the first customer and received the gold.

"Oh also, do you want to buy some of my blood?" Dancchi asked.

"Your blood? Sure! What are the effects?"

"The three energies in the blood are Chaos, Valz, and Photon. They combine into one new energy that I call Initius. My pet slime and my body were rebuilt by Biel by some kind of ritual. After that ritual, my body and my pet combined and the slime has now become my blood."

"So...your blood is made out of slime? Then, I probably cannot use it."

"Oh, okay then."

"However, I can extract the essences from the blood and convert them into essence drops. I can make 4 types: Chaos, Valz, Photon, and Initius. Essence drops are basically resistance boosting "candy" with a special skill or two granted and will generally last 15-45 minutes. What are the general effects of each essence?"

"Photon is Light and Electric type. Chaos is...well Chaos-type. Valz is Dark and Poison type. Finally, Initius is, I think, Holy type."

"Okay, I think I can make 5 essence drops of Chaos, 5 essence drops of Valz, 5 essence drops of Photon and 1 essence drop of Initius from one jar of your slimy blood. There's no market price since there's no market yet so I'll calculate an appropriate price. If separated the three essences are low A rank and can be sold at 65 gold for each drop. The Initius Essence is mid A rank and can be sold 70 gold per drop. Since I can get 16 essence drops per jar, I'll pay you 950 gold for a jar."

"Not a bad deal. Here's a jar of my slime-blood."

"Okay. Here's 950 gold."

When the first satisfied customer left with her items, a second customer approaches my table. The adventurer is called @nguuuquaaa aka Takako - a D ranked new adventurer. He said, "Can I have 5 Wyvern Blood Pills please?"

"Okay, that's 125 gold." I replied as I hand him 5 pills and received the gold.

Next, @Balthazzar - a Fallen Angel - walked up to my table and asked for two Fire Giant Pills. I said the two pills cost a total of 130 gold. He agreed and we exchanged our items.

 

The Dragons' Invasion: Day 2

Another day has passed.... By this time the blizzard I cast yesterday should have stopped. The grounded Earth Dragons and Dual-type dragons should be waking up from their recuperation. They will be here in no time...thankfully we have prepared enough and finished evacuating all the citizens. I walked out of the city walls and look into the distance. Many black specks could be seen...they must be the Poison Dragons and Plant Dragons. I walked further out towards those specks and began forming a huge fireball. This fireball of mine is fueled with the Flames of Wrath which will cause the fire to burn continuously, without the possibility of being extinguished, until nothing is left.

After an hour or so, the fireball has become bigger than the guild. After that, I condensed the fireball until it becomes the size of a watermelon. At this size and firepower, the condensed fireball is very unstable. One prick and *BOOM!* explosion everywhere. I held the condensed fireball and peered at the incoming danger. They looked to be about close enough. Taking the fireball with me, I hopped into the air using Roaming the Skies and floated in the air. With a sharp flick of my hand, I send the condensed fireball into the clouds.

The fireball traveled up until it reached a peak. Then, it arced and descended towards the middle of the flying dragons. With a slight movement of my fingers, I disrupted the Fire Essence within the fireball. With this small disturbance, the unstable fireball exploded outwards. Pieces of fire rained from the sky onto the flying dragons...essentially what I call the Rain of Fire. As the fire bombarded the unsuspecting dragons, many were quick to dodge the incoming attacks but there were quite a few unlucky ones as well. The fire hits the dragons, causing them to crash to the ground. The burning dragons rolled on the ground trying to put out the fire, but to no avail...they kept burning and burning and burning until nothing was left. Tallying up the amount that had died to the fire, I counted 22 Plant Dragons and 16 Poison Dragons.

The surviving dragons quickly spotted me and charged towards me. The Poison Dragons all started firing Acid Spit, Acid Breath, Poison Breath, etc at me and the Plant Dragons shot vines upon vines towards my direction. With a wave of my hand, I manipulated the poison with the Poison Attacks and extracted the Poison Essence which I then stored in a few jars. Without the Poison Essence, the attacks were harmless. As for vines, I ignited a Fire Wall and stopped all the incoming vine attacks. I rapid-fired a few hundred fireballs at the flying dragons and used the cover of the fire to rush in. As the dragons attempted to dodge the fireballs, I would behead any dragon that were unaware of my presence in their midst. About 9 more Plant Dragons died by the fireballs and 6 more Poison Dragons died from my knife attacks. Quickly, I collected the 6 Poison Dragon corpses for later experiments.

I was too caught up in the bloodshed when I realized too late that there were no more fireballs to cover my presence. Stuck in the middle of the angry dragons, I decided to make a quick retreat. I reached into my bag and brought out my Ghost Mask. Putting it on, I immediately turned invisible and descended to the ground. With my presence gone, the angry dragons searched frantically for any sign of me, but unfortunately they could not find me. Giving up, the continue forward towards the city.

Once I reached the ground, I pulled out a town portal and teleported back to the city.

..........

At night....

..........

Venturing out into the night after a day of battle, I decided to visit the tavern to sell some blood pills and essence drops. It's near midnight but I'm sure there's people resting and replenishing in the tavern. I was halfway to my destination when all of a sudden, a mental transmission sounded in my head. It was from Blackie.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Dragons...hundreds of them flying towards Delta Town!" Blackie replied.

"WHAT?! How?...Are those dragons the Earth Dragons and Dual-type dragons that were grounded by the blizzard from yesterday? Did they change plans?"

"No...these dragons...they're Dual-type dragons for sure...but they're Earth and Plant type."

"A new type?! Oh no...how long are they going to be there? How many are there exactly?"

"It's a little dark...about 200 I think. At they're speed...they'll be there at midnight."

"SHIT! How come we didn't see them coming?"

"They seem to have the Camouflage ability. Low rankers cannot detect them. Even I had trouble if not for my heat-sensing abilities."

"Damn it. No time to lose. I need to tell Shadow."

After closing the mental transmission, I rushed back to Shadow, "SHADOW!! STOP INCREASING YOUR HAREM! THERE'S BIG TROUBLE...AND NO YOUR CONDOM DIDN'T BREAK!"

 

The Dragons' Invasion: Day 3

Since @A5G_Reaper had already wiped out all the dragons attacking Delta Town, I decided to focus on the dragons flying out of the teleportation circle in the cave. There seems to be about 200 of them. But, before that, I started making a condensed fireball. I first reached in my bag and pull out the mask - Mask of the Fiery Demon. Wearing it, my abilities in fire increased significantly and the firepower increased as well. Then, I started generating a huge fireball - as big as the city itself.

After the giant fireball was created, I started using Essence Manipulation and condense the fireball until it is as big as a normal house. However, these seems to be too big. I can go smaller...but not out here. Activating Maker's Domain, I continued to condense the fireball. Finally, after half an hour, I was able to condense the once gigantic fireball into a orange-sized super condensed fireball. The fireball has been condensed so much that an outer layer of solid Fire Essence was formed. I take this fireball and placed it in a spherical container with a string attached. Done! Fire bomb completed - I dub it the Wrath Bomb.

imagine this...
...in this.


I hand this Wrath Bomb to @shad12ow and told him that he should use it to ignite the city when all the dragons are trapped inside. This bomb can be ignited if it's Fire Essence is disturbed inside the container. Fortunately, the container will prevent most outside disturbances. The flames of the fireball is fueled with Flames of Wrath and won't be extinguished until all is burned to ash. Use with caution I told him.

..........

After creating the Wrath Bomb and handing it to Shadow, I headed out towards the teleportation circle near the cave. Upon nearing the cave, I see many dragons coming out of nowhere and flying into the skies. The dragons number close to 200 and there were a mix of Earth, Plant, and Poison Dragons...no Dual-types it seems...well not any I can see.

These dragons seem to be stronger than previous dragons. It's time to use the Art I learned a few weeks back - Meridian Destruction Art. With a leap, I used Roaming the Skies and flew into the air. While staying afloat, I activated my Eye of Odin. The Eye of Odin is the stone eyeball that replaced my left eye a few days ago after Morian pierced it out. With the Eye of Odin activated, I was able to see all the Acupressure Points as well as the weaknesses of the dragons in front of me. Initially, the Meridian Destruction Art requires needles to attack humans and beasts with weaker skin/hide. However for super tough skin/hide, fingers and fists are used. I trained for a hundred years in my Maker's Domain to increase the strength and toughness of my fingers and fists. Now, my fingers and fists can penetrate anything.

After confirming the Acupressure Points of all 200 of the dragons that came out of the teleportation circle, I charged forward. The dragons seeing me charge in also charged forward. Breath attacks came at me from all directions. With a few waves of my hands, I extracted all the essences from the different attacks and stored them into jars. Once I reached the first wave of dragons, I lifted up my forefinger and middle finger and jabbed at the jaws of the dragons. The pressure points at the jaws were pressed and caused those first 10 dragon unable to close their mouths. With a flick of my finger, I shot 10 Therian's Bane pills into their mouths. The 1000 degrees F attacked the dragons from the inside and burned them inside out. 10 dragons down...190 dragons left.

For the Earth Dragons, I don't think fire or intense heat would affect them much so I decided to use another method to kill them. With my Eye of Odin, I peered into the depths of the Earth Dragons and saw their weak points...their death points. I Dragon Leap to the middle of a cluster of Earth Dragons and balled my right hand into a fist. *POW!* *BAM!* *POW!* Death points activated and many Earth Dragons fell and died instantly. I continued this two techniques until all of the dragons were died. I then collected the corpses of the dragons and stored them in my storage ring.

Tired, I headed back. I'm done for the day.

..........

The day is nearly over but some of the dragons are stubbornly attacking outside the city walls. We needed to lure them into the city in order to set off the trap we had installed for them. Now, how do we lure them in? Some tried to taunt them or forcibly pull them in and some tried to attack them and then retreat...hoping for them to pursue. However, these dragons have enough intelligence to not fall for such petty tricks. Sure there are some that do but they can easily blame it on their mentality. Ever since their eyes turned purple, they have entered berserk mode and lost most of their reasoning. They can coordinate with simple commands but most of the time, they'll be rampaging wherever they fly to.

As I pondered about how to lure these berserk dragons into the city, I recalled that these dragons were produced by Morian and listens to Morian's commands. Now, how does Morian transmit his commands to the dragons? Can't be via voice...that's it! He uses his essence to communicate with his subordinates. I reach in my bag and took out a jar of Morian's Essence. Using advanced Essence Manipulation, I controlled the essence so that it could send out a message and sent that message to all of the dragons outside the city. The message told them to attack the enemies within the city. No matter what happens, charging into the city takes priority.

After receiving the fraudulent message, the dragons outside the city walls all stopped what they were doing and charged towards the city. As they entered the borders of the city, I used Meridian Destruction Art and pressed the pressure points of their wings, paralyzing them and causing them to be unable to fly. The dragons - their wings have stopped working - crashed to the ground inside the city. The collapsed dragons tried to stabilize themselves and stand up, but the wave of dragons behind them crashed into them as those dragons' wings were paralyzed as well. This process goes on and on until a giant pile of dragons were formed and all the dragons are inside the city.

"Now is the time, Shadow!" I shouted.

 

lel... hey want to buy some dragon blood
I got 74 vials

 

Do you know how many fresh dragon corpses I collected?

 

nope

 

Over 200

 

So thats like 1000 barrels of blood

 

but, you could have an extra 74 vials of dragon blood

 

Nah sorry. Maybe you should drink it urself

 

The Tragedy

With the trap in place and about to activate, I decided to head over to Delta Town to both avoid the explosion once the trap starts and to check up on the status of the Delta Town. I heard that half of the town has been leveled due to some people's *cough* Reachii *cough* lack of restraint. I hopped on Blackie and we flew over to Delta Town. Even from far away, I can see the smoke and the essences of Death fluttering in the skies. I urged Blackie to travel faster. Last I recalled, Princess Emelelyn evacuated to Delta Town. Uh...no...before you think elsewhere, I'm not worried about her...I just think that since she's a valuable ally and we, the adventurers, should worry for her safety.

Anyways, we quickly reached Delta Town. Upon landing, I could finally clearly see the exact destruction...the exact status of the town. I hopped off of Blackie and quickly asked around for Princess Emelelyn's whereabouts. After asking a few people, I found out...unfortunately...that Princess Emelelyn was injured and hospitalized. I hurried over to the medical tent and couldn't help overhearing the screams of anguish...particularly that of Princess Emelelyn's screams.

Preparing for the worst, I lifted up the flap of the entrance of the tent and walked inside. There...squirming on a bed...was Princess Emelelyn. Her body was a mess. She was covered with burns and melted flesh. Her limbs were all broken...or as the healers described...shattered. From the reports of the healers...she will never be able to move those limbs again. Her face was melted off leaving a skull-like appearance. It was a tragedy.

Princess Emelelyn was screaming in pain and sorrow. She had just seen what have become of her and...the trauma is too overbearing. I reach towards the princess and grabbed her hand...or what's left of it and tried to comfort her and calm her down...saying stuff like how we can heal her and let her regain her original appearance. After some comforting, she calmed down...her eyes blank. I don't know if my comforting got through to her or if she just gave up but at the very least, she was calm. Otherwise, with all that thrashing, who knows what further injuries could occur.

I pulled out my mask - Mask of the Sleepy Knight - and had @Napknight cast Absolute Sleep on her so that she could at least sleep peacefully for thirty minutes. While the princess was sleeping, I dragged a healer to the side and asked about her situation. The healer says the situation is slim...and that there is less than 1% chance of restoring her appearance. Suddenly, a slight stirring sound shocked me as I turn my head to the princess sleeping on the bed...could she have heard this? Impossible! She should be asleep from the Absolute Sleep spell...unless Napknight did a shitty job again. Fearing the consequences, I ordered the healer to not mention the low success chance to Princess Emelelyn. Once I got the healer's agreement, I left the tent.

Whew...how am I supposed to notify King Thorhil of this unfortunate occurrence? Maybe @shad12ow should do it...after all, he's a staff member...yea....

 

Memories

It is the day after the Dragons' Invasion. Delta Town, though half-destroyed, is finally safe from dragon attacks. The surviving able-bodied citizens and low ranked adventurers were busy helping with the rebuilding of the town. Princess Emelelyn was sitting in a wheelchair while gazing at the garden view outside the medical tent. Her whole body was bandaged up. Her limbs, though healing, were still crippled. She stared trance-like into the garden of flowers. These flowers were of a beautiful blue with two layers of petals. Anyone gazing at them would smile. People walking by would see the princess gazing intently and thinks that she is entranced by the beauty of the flowers.

Anyways, the princess was busy thinking of some past memories. It was just after the betrayal of her second brother. She was made unconscious and brought back to Adventurer's City by the Mask Maker. When she woke up, she was initially very angry and tried to run back a couple of times...but after some time, she was persuaded to stay at the city where it was safe. The days went by as boring as ever...everyday was the same - eat, stare out the window, sleep. This went on for a week until one fateful day...she met a young man.

The young man was named Frank...he was a young merchant working for the Crafting Branch of the guild. Frank was a tall, broad shouldered man with brown hair and green eyes. The first time they met, Princess Emelelyn was gazing out the window of the inn she was staying at. Suddenly, she saw a young man holding a small book walk by. A small pocket-watch fell out of his pocket while he rummaged around his pocket for a pen. The young man didn't pay attention and was busily writing in his small book. Princess Emelelyn wanted to say something but was too shy to speak out. After struggling with herself a few more times...coupled with the fact that the young man was walking farther and farther away, Princess Emelelyn finally spoke out.

"Hey! You! You dropped your pocket-watch!" Emelelyn shouted.

"Huh? Oh! Thank you for telling me!" The young man turned in surprise and saw the pocket-watch on the ground. He walked over to the pocket-watch and picked it up. The young man looked up and glanced at Emelelyn with a smile, "The name's Frank...Frank York, what's yours?"

"Emelelyn Oakenlake." The princess blushed as she replied, charmed by the handsome smile.

"Emelelyn? That's a beautiful name. As thanks, let me treat you to a meal?"

"O-okay."

After this short exchange, the two continued to meet more often. Their friendship grew and finally...after a month, love blossomed. The day Frank asked her out, he gave her a beautifully engraved silver dagger sheathed in a beautiful gem encrusted leather scabbard. When she received it, she cried tears of joy and told Frank that she will treasure it forever. Everything seemed to be going perfectly until the disastrous day....

..........

Three days ago....

..........

"Come on Emelelyn, we need to hurry! The dragons are coming and we need to evacuate to Delta Town." Frank shouted in the midst of the evacuation.

"Wait, let me get my dagger." Emelelyn replied.

"Forget about it, I'll buy you another. Let's hurry to safety."

"No! This is your first gift to me. I can't lose this precious thing."

"Oh Emelelyn...fine. Come, let's go."

The couple hurried towards the airship, packing light and carrying only necessary items. Once aboard, they waited patiently and anxiously as the airship took off. Hours later, they arrived to Delta Town where the couple rented out a living space.

"When will the Invasion be over?" Emelelyn muttered towards Frank.

"I'm sure it will be over soon. Don't worry, I'll be here for you." Frank smiled as he embraced Emelelyn.

..........

Yesterday....

..........

Dragons started attacking at the early hours of dawn. Rocks flew out and crashed into buildings, crushing many people. Poison gas leaked out everywhere and acid melted the town. An A rank adventurer arrived and killed off all the dragons...however, the destruction and rampage caused by the adventurer not only destroyed the dragons...but also leveled half of the town to the ground.

"Hurry, Emelelyn! We need to get to safety." Frank shouted as he pulled Emelelyn along.

Suddenly, a half-melted building collapsed towards Frank. With a spurt of movement, Emelelyn pushed Frank out of the way. The building crashed into Emelelyn. Trapped under the building, Emelelyn cried out towards Frank, "Frank! Help me! I...I can't feel my legs...or my arms!"

Frank reached out his arm but fire and acid crashed down on the rubble. Frank looked at Emelelyn, panic in his eyes. He mouthed one word and left.

"Sorry...."

Sorry...sorry...sorry...sorry...sorry.... The word repeated itself in Emelelyn's mind as excruciating pain slowly creeps up on her. She refused to believe that Frank had abandoned her. She shook her mind of all distrust...she believes that Frank is just...just going to ask for help...that must be it. Then...Emelelyn blacked out.

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This morning....

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"AAAARRRRRRGGGGHGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Emelelyn screamed as she woke up and waves of pain crashed into her. Healers ran in to restrain her and calm her down. After Emelelyn calmed down, she tried to ask what had happened to her and where Frank was. All she got was that she fell under some rubble and was rescued soon after.

"My dagger! Where is my dagger?" Emelelyn cried out as she frantically searched around. Upon seeing the dagger laid on top of a nearby table, Emelelyn reached out, grabbed the dagger, and embraced it. At this moment, Frank walked in. Emelelyn saw Frank walk in and happily cried out towards him.

She saw his face...and then saw his grimace...his disgust. She saw him push her away. She saw him turn his eyes away. She saw him turn his back towards her. She saw him walk away.

"Why...?" Emelelyn mumbled. Maybe it was the pain or maybe it was the medications or maybe it was both, but Emelelyn erupted...she pulled out her dagger and stabbed Frank in the shoulder.

Frank turned around and pushed Emelelyn away. He scowled and tore the dagger from his shoulder and threw it onto the ground, "You ugly bitch! You're lucky I even considered seeing how you were doing! Hmph!"

Frank didn't want to stay any longer with this crazy woman and hurriedly left the tent. Emelelyn cried as she picked up the bloodied dagger. She saw her appearance and finally understood.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"