BXBX NOVEL Chapter 71 A Tomb
With the quest notification popping up, Arthur quickly took a look.
>Quest Issued!<
——
Quest: Bring the sealed fragment of Iltan to the Priests of Auria and prevent the revival of the evil deity.
Grade: Epic
Difficulty: Hard
Reward: Experience, ??? (quests rewards will greatly vary depending on the player\'s performance.
——
\'Another Epic Grade quest and this one is offering direct experience too along with additional rewards.\' Arthur was more than surprised.
Arthur was happy that he had gotten an Epic grade before from the Kestrel medallion, but now he had gotten another. But once he took a look at the difficulty, he knew that this was going to be tough.
\'Iltan was hard to deal with before, and even if it hasn\'t been revived yet, the cultists will be a pain still.\' Arthur started thinking about it. \'The existence of this quest means that the entire quest line can be removed if this succeeds. This also means that last time someone failed this, or it was never triggered.\' He thought.
Arthur reckoned that the latter was most likely, as there would have been a lot more information on the forums about it. After all, Iltan was one of the major antagonists players would face and they had sought as much information as they could about it.
But since there was no information, it meant that this quest was likely left hidden.
For now though, Arthur knew he needed to continue with it.
"I\'ll try, but who are these Priests Of Auria?" Arthur asked to proceed with the conversation, even if he knew who they were.
"They are priests that worship the Goddess Auria. If there is anyone who can reseal this fragment, it is them. They are well worded in holy sealing magics as the Goddess Auria\'s domain is cleansing and purging." Mage Bernard answered.
"And where can I find them?" Arthur inquired.
He had known about Goddess Auria before and also about her priests. The issue with them though was the fact that they were highly isolated individuals. Finding them was very difficult and their magic proficiency meant they could hide well.
Arthur could recall that there were even a couple of players who had managed to become priests of Auria. It was a decent class and she would have been one of the popular goddesses to be a priest of, but the difficulty in finding them made it close to impossible.
"I don\'t know their exact location, but I have something that will help you find them." Mage Bernard replied. "Wait, a moment." He said before going into his private room.
He returned a minute later with a delicate looking box. He carefully opened it, revealing a golden ring with a yellow crystal embedded at its top. One could faintly see an emblem etched within the crystal. The emblem was that of a wing wrapping around a sword.
"Take this." Mage Bernard offered.
Arthur took the ring, quickly using inspect on it.
>Inspect failed!<
\'Huh… is it too high leveled for me even now?\' Arthur wondered.
"The ring will point you to the location of the Priests. But it only works when it is in a certain range of it." Mage Bernard explained.
"Do you have a prospective area I should head to?" Arthur asked, as he really didn\'t know the location of the Priests of Auria.
At least at the current moment. He knew they moved around from time to time, and once they were discovered they would leave the region. Arthur knew where to find them a year later, but at the current time, he had to rely on the old mage.
"You will have to go to the Barony of Muir. The ring should be able to help you after that." Mage Bernard replied.
"Barony of Muir?" Arthur tried to recall the location. "The one that is on the southern edge of the Kingdom?!" he asked.
"Yes." Mage Bernard replied.
"That is… Far." Arthur reckoned it would take him over a month to even travel that far.
And this was if he had the right mode of transport. If he were to walk on foot, he didn\'t know how long it would take.
\'I guess it makes sense why this is an Epic Grade Hard difficulty quest.\' Arthur reckoned.
"Don\'t wear the ring though. You do not want anyone recognizing it." The mage warned. "Only wear it when you are in the Barony." He added.
"I\'ll keep that in mind." Arthur nodded his head.
"Good. Though now I think you still have more to do." The mage said.
"Ah yes. I\'m also supposed to talk to the Captain of the Roran town about the bandits." Arthur replied.
"Yeah, do that. It is their duty to get rid of those bandits anyway. Plus since a cult is involved in this, it is best they are not allowed to do anything." Mage Bernard stated.
>Quest Updated!<
——-
Quest: 1. Talk to the resident Mage Bernard (completed)
2. Talk to the captain of the Roran Town about the Bandits and their actions.
Grade: Uncommon
Difficulty: Intermediate
Reward: Coins, experience.
——
With that, the first half of the quest was completed, and Arthur could now move on to other things.
He stored the ring in his bag and left the resident mage\'s house.
It was now time for Arthur to do what he had been preparing for all this time.
"Time to get the class…" Arthur muttered to himself.
The location that he needed to go was actually nearby.
\'I don\'t know how long it took for the original player to find it, but I won\'t be having any issues.\' Arthur thought as he went to the very center of the village.
His destination was none other than the place where he had spawned into the game for the first time. It was the fountain with the old statue.
"Kestrel…" Arthur read the name carved under the statue. "I guess they did try to leave some clues for it." He chuckled.
Arthur didn\'t proceed right away though, he first took a look around to ensure that there wasn\'t anyone here. There were still a couple of players who had died and respawned there.
But they were in too much of a hurry to pay any attention to Arthur. After all, this was the first area they arrived in and wouldn\'t care much about it now. No one would think that there was a secret hidden here.
\'There we go, time to do it.\' Arthur took out the Medallion of Kestrel.
~humm~
A faint trembling could be felt from the Medallion before the Statue started to move.
What was stranger though was the fact that the Statue had moved silently.
\'If it made a lot of noise, it would have been more difficult to get in without being noticed.\' Arthur thought as he looked at the Manhole sized entrance that had appeared.
It had been hidden under the statue and wasn\'t seen by anyone.
"Time to head in…" Arthur climbed down the hole while the statue moved back to hide it.
There was a stone ladder carved directly into the hole\'s wall, thus allowing Arthur to get down with relative ease. It was quite dark too, but Arthur didn\'t have to endure it for long.
A minute later he had reached the bottom and could tell that he was in a corridor of some kind.
Whoosh!~
A second later, tens of stone candles ignited, lighting the path for Arthur.
\'That\'s certainly magic.\' Arthur could tell since the candles weren\'t made from wax.
They too were carved into the walls directly and were made of the same kind of stone.
Arthur walked through the corridor and reached a new room. This room was a lot wide and had several stone candles illuminating it as well.
But the most eye catching part about it was the circular pattern on the wall. There were a few letters carved on top of the wall as well, that Arthur read.
"Kestrel\'s Tomb…Here it is…" Arthur muttered.
He got closer to the wall and looked for a small depression in it. The depression was the same size as that of the Medallion of Kestrel as if asking to be used.
Clink!
Placing the Medallion in the depression, Arthur took a step back.
~Rumble~
With a low rumble, the entire wall started to move. It sank into the ground, allowing Arthur to access it further.
Now a wide open hall was visible to Arthur, but it was completely dark. There were no candles to illuminate it, and only the scattered light from the previous room was coming in now.
With bated breath, Arthur stepped forward waiting for something to happen.
~humm~
And when he had taken a few steps, the familiar thrumming of Magic could be felt!
Hundreds of runes suddenly materialized in the air turning into a large magic circle. Arthur watched it all with amazement until a voice was heard.
"Only those who fulfill the trial would be allowed to obtain the Dragomancer\'s Legacy!" A loud voice that was filled with power spoke.