Casper berhasil memecahkan teka-teki dan menghancurkan ikatan spasial yang memegang fragmen terakhir, sementara Lyra terbang mengambilnya. Ia kembali menyerahkannya kepada Casper, yang memeriksanya dengan cermat untuk memastikan semuanya dalam keadaan baik.
[Fragnmen Dunia Yalsten (Unik)] u2013 Salah satu dari lima Fragnmen Dunia Yalsten, landasan dari dunia mini yang runtuh. Saat Yalsten mulai runtuh, Inti Dunia pun dipecah menjadi lima bagian dan tersebar ke arah kadang-kadang di seluruh dunia untuk menstabilkannya. Apa yang sudah hancur takkan bisa dipulihkan, namun fragmen-fragmen itu bisa digabung kembali menjadi Kuas-Cawi. Namun heed: menciptakan inti baru dari fragmen akan menghancurkan dunia yang dikenal sebagai Yalsten secara permanen. Inti akan otomatis berkumpul jika fragmen-fragmennya berada dekat satu sama lain.
Saat tiba di tempat ini, faksi mayat hidup memiliki dua tujuan utama. Inilah yang pertama. Sebuah Inti Dunia adalah sesuatu yang bahkan dewa sesekali inginkan, karena memungkinkan seseorang menciptakan dunia sejati. Bukan sebuah alam semesta penuh, namun dunia yang ada di dalam Penguasaan Kosong tak terbatas di antara alam semesta.
Dunia-dunia ini bisa bervariasi luasnya, dari tidak lebih besar dari sebuah ruangan hingga jutaan galaksi. Dibandingkan dengan sebuah alam semesta sejati, ini tetap hanya sefraksi, namun dunia-dunia ini jauh lebih mudah dikendalikan, disesuaikan, dan ditanggapi dibandingkan mengelola sebagian dari sebuah alam semesta. Namun, mereka juga memiliki banyak kekurangan, seperti kerapuhnya dan fakta bahwa dunia akan menjadi tidak dapat diakses jika semua titik aksesnya terputus. Itulah yang terjadi pada Yalsten.
Yang akan didapatkan oleh Casper dan mayat hidup bukanlah sebuah Inti Dunia sejati. Itu sudah lama berlalu, dan yang akan mereka dapatkan adalah sebuah Kuas-Cawi Dunia. Kuas ini tidak akan memungkinkan mereka untuk mendirikan dunia yang stabil, namun bisa berfaedah untuk hal lain. Di antara semua harta di Penyelidikan Harta Karun, inti ini mungkin bernilai paling tinggi.
Untuk merakitnya, Casper pun bergerak ke pusat dari Penyelidikan Harta Karun u2014 menara kristal. Fragmen terakhir disimpan di sana, dan sekarang tiba saatnya untuk melakukan persiapan akhir untuk pertempuran melawan penjaganya.
Namun, untuk sekarang, Casper perlu menjaga jaraknya dari menara, setidaknya sejauh sekilometer. Jika ia mendekat terlalu jauh, ia akan memicu penggabungan fragmen, dan dunia yang dikenal sebagai Yalsten pun akan mulai runtuh.
Menunggu bukan hanya dilakukan oleh mayat hidup, tetapi juga oleh faksi-faksi lain. Bagaimanapapun, ada banyak harta lain yang bisa dikumpulkan. Casper juga telah melihat dengan jelas misi pembuka tentang Vaults dan tahu bahwa sebelum lama, tahap akhir akan dimulai, dengan atau tanpa aksinya. Sementara itu, mayat hidup melakukan persiapan sambil mencari hal lain yang mereka inginkan.
Item kedua yang sangat ingin didapatkan oleh faksi mayat hidup adalah Biji dari Eternal Resentment, landasan ritual yang menyelimuti kutukan pada Yalsten. Tentu saja, sebuah item yang mampu menyimpan dan memfasilitasi kutukan yang bisa menghancurkan seluruh dunia bukanlah sesuatu yang bisa dianggap enteng. Ia pasti akan melemah ketika dihapuskan dari Yalsten, namun tetap bernilai.
Namun, hal ini membuat mereka terjebak. Mereka menemukan bahwa Biji sudah lama tumbuh. Kayu telah diciptakan dari dahan-dahan dari Pohon Eternal Resentment dan diubah menjadi senjata dan alat bagi faksi Pure One.
Pohon induknya sendiri harusnya ratusan kilometer tinggi, menjulang di atas dunia. Namun kini tak ada pohonpun yang terlihat, dan mayat hidup bergulat untuk menemukan segala tersisa darinya. Harus ada setidaknya beberapa daun, kulit, atau sekadar kayu... atau mungkin sekadar seakar akarnya.
u201cblub blub blub,u201d Jake mengeluh sambil memandang lubang yang mengarah ke dalam gua lain yang memusingkan, katanya kira-kira berarti: u201cnggak mungkin deh kamu bercanda.u201d
Dari semua Vaults, ia secara resmi telah menghabiskan paling banyak waktu di Vault ini. Di gua pertama, ia memakan ikan-ikan sebelum beranjak ke gua kedua. Di dalam gua itu, ia membunuh ikan-ikan yang agak lebih kuat. Di gua ketiga, ia kembali membunuh ikan, namun kini ada dua jenis u2014 varian kedua muncul dengan kemampuan menembakkan peluru air.
Gua keempat? Dua jenis ikan yang sama, namun, lihatlah, sekarang ada jebakan yang mencoba membunuhnya. Gua kelima? Lebih banyak ikan, lebih banyak jebakan, lebih banyak semuanya. Keenam, ketujuh, kedelapan? Sama saja, berulang-ulang. Beberapa lebih fokus pada musuh, beberapa lebih fokus pada jebakan, dan semuanya sama sekali menjenuhkan.
Jake berhasil mengumpulkan total sembilan poin pengalaman selama seluruh kekacauan yang ada di Vault air ini. Gua setelah gua dengan jenis kunci udara di antaranya untuk menambah tekanan. Jake menyesuaikan diri setiap kali, dan jujur saja, ia hampir tak merasakan perbedaan antar-level.
Mungkin ini akan menyusahkan seseorang dengan stat fisik yang lebih rendah, tapi Jake menaklukkan semuanya dengan mudah. Satu-satunya konsekuensi sebenarnya adalah ia harus sedikit membatasi sphere-nya. Di ruangan ke-sembilan ini, ia memendekannya hanya hingga lima meter, yang masih cukup untuk keperluannya. Penglihatannya juga semakin tajam, sehingga ia mampu bertahan.
Masuk ke Vault ke-sembilannya, ia memeriksa situasi, sphere-nya, untuk melihat apa yang ditawarkan di sini. Tampaknya ini sama saja, hingga tiba-tiba ia diserang oleh sekumpulan ikan. Jake menghela napas dalam sekaligus, sambil menyalakan pilar mana-mana di sekitarnya. Beberapa kristal yang terbentuk dari mananya tetap terpasang dengan sedikit kekuatan, lalu meledak.
Ledakan itu tidak ditujukan untuk menyakitkan sesuatu, melainkan hanya mengirimkan pecahan kristal berupa manakah terbang. Granat api, jika kamu tahu.
Sambil itu, ia mengeluarkan senjatanya, siap menghadapi musuh yang akan datang. Jake masih belum menemukan cara praktis untuk menggunakan busurnya di bawah air, jadi untuk sekarang inilah yang harus dilakukannya. Hampir sebelum ikan pertama menghampirinya, indra bahayanya memberi tahu dengan lemlem, lalu ia melompat mundur untuk menghindari harpoon yang ditembakkan dari dinding.
Jake meluncur maju, tetap beralih untuk menghindari jebakan. Ia berenang dengan mengerdalkan dan memendikit air di bawah kakinya. Sesekali ia tampak tertarik, di sebabkan oleh tiang punggung yang kadang-kadang ia gunakan untuk menambah berat badannya.
Untuk banyak ruangan, ia cenderung turun ke dasar dan membunuh semuanya dari sana, terasa seperti sedang melawan musuh yang terbang. Namun hal ini gagal untuk dua bagian terakhir, karena dasarnya kini dipenuhi oleh hutan buka besar yang menyembakkan air panas sangat kencang setiap kali ia mendekat.
Matanya lelah sambil ikan-ikannya dibunuh. Kadang-kadang ia sampai memanfaatkan jebakan, melompatkan ikan ke dalam tombak datang atau menusuk kemudian mengirimkannya ke dasar untuk menjadi ikan yang dikukus.
Jake dengan mudah mengatasi Terror dengan hidung besar itu, namun ia terkena sedikit luka dari Spitter u2014 varian kedua. Mereka menembakkan peluru air bertekanan kepadanya, masing-masingnya meninggalkan lubang kecil berbentuk lingkaran. Satu atau dua saja tak masalah, tapi menyenakkan saat sekumpul lusinan menyerangnya sekaligus.
Akhirnya, ia habis hampir satu jam untuk membersihkan lagi sesi yang sama saja. Ia menemukan lagi jenis kunci udara di dasar dan langsung memasukkannya. Ia langsung duduk di lantai ruangan kecil itu untuk bersemedi, tubuhnya tampak seperti keju swiss karena banyaknya lubang tembak. Sambil bersemedi, secara alami ia menerima semua notifikasinya.
*Anda telah membunuh [Deepgorge Terror u2013 lvl 131]*
u2026
*Anda telah membunuh [Deepgorge Terror u2013 lvl 141] u2013 Pengalaman bonus dihapus karena membunuh musuh di atas level Anda*
Dan hanya satu lagi tipe musuh u2014 karena siapa pun butuh keanekaragaman musuh yang wajar di level air?
*Anda telah membunuh [Deepgorge Spitter u2013 lvl 133]*
u2026
*Anda telah membunuh [Deepgorge Spitter u2013 lvl 143] u2013 Pengalaman bonus dihapus karena membunuh musuh di atas level Anda*
Lagi-lagi, kebanyakan hal yang sama dengan banyak musuh yang tak pernah memberi pengalaman. Ikan Deepgorge Terror adalah, sebagaimana disebutkan sebelumnya, D-grade tingkat dasar, dan Spitter hanyalah sedikit di atasnya. Jika diterjemahkan ke hewan darat, Jake bisa membunuh mereka bahkan lebih mudah dibanding Deepdweller di dungeon Undergrowth.
Ketika ia sedang memikirkan hal itu, ia sampai pada akhir notifikasinya dan melihat satu lagi yang membuat matanya melebar.
*u2019DING!u2019 Kelas: [Pemburu Arcane yang Serakah] telah mencapai level 139 - Poin statis dialokasikan, +10 Poin Bebas*
Gila kok sama sih ini bisa ngelevel?
Dengan menghitung, seharusnya ini tidak mungkin. Walaupun Jake memang telah membunuh banyak orang, ini tetap D-grade asal dan hampir tidak lebih tinggi dari dirinya sendiri. Apa karena sekitarnya?
Jake memang tahu bahwa sebagian dari seberapa banyak pengalaman yang didapatkan ditentukan oleh kesulitan pertempuran, dan ia dengan ikhlas mengakui bahwa melawan ikan-ikan ini memang tidak mudah. Ia harus menerapkan metode baru, dan tak satu pun ruangan yang tak pernah meninggalkannya dengan lebih dari setengah kesehatan tersisa.
Dengan mengangguk kepalanya, ia kembali fokus pada meditasi, tak peduli untuk berpikir terlalu dalam. Ia hanya fokus pada pemulihan sempurna sehingga bisa dengan cepat melanjutkan pertempuran ke area berikutnya. Area berikutnya akan menjadi gua ke-Sepuluh, dan ia sangat berharap itu adalah yang terakhir. Separuh hatinya berharap hanya ada sembilan, namun sepuluh juga terasa u201cnyamanu201d jika kamu mengerti maksudnya.
Beberapa jam berlalu hingga Jake bangun, siap melanjutkan. Sekarang hanya tersisa lebih dari sehari dari seluruh Penyelidikan Harta Karun, dan ia serius tidak bisa membuang waktu di level air ini lagi.
Gua berikutnya ternyata bukanlah sebuah gua sama sekali. Jake memandang sekitar dan menyadari bahwa ia kini berada di sebuah ruangan tersembunyi yang terendam air, penuh pilar baja di sekelilingnya. Ia juga cukup yakin bahwa tempat ini lebih luas dari bagian sebelumnya. Perubahan ini hanya bisa berarti satu hal:
Ini adalah ruangan bos.
Dan tentu saja, apa pun itu artinya? Yap, akhir dari tantangan.
Jake tersenyum lebar, siap menghadapi monster apa pun yang bersembunyi di dalam. Namun, hampir sekaligus ketika ia mulai mengincar diri, ia melihat sosokan di pojok matanya. Itu adalah seekor ular seperti ular yang lebih dari lima meter panjangnya. Ia berbalik, lalu Identify.
[Fulgarian Eel u2013 lvl 140]*
Makhluk melata itu pun melihatnya. Lantas melaju dengan mulut terbuka, lebih cepat dari Terror di ruangan lain. Jake bereaksi dengan mengeluarkan pisau gergajianya dan mengayunkannya sambil mengumpulkan mananya.
Dengan satu pisau, ia bertemu dengan serangan. Ular itu menyesuaikan dirinya untuk menggigit pisanya, menyentuhnya di antara gigi tajamnya. Jake menganggapnya bodoh untuk melakukannya, sampai tiba-tiba momen berikutnya. Indra bahayanya memperingatkannya saat ia melepas Nanoblade-nya yang baru saja digunakan.
Seperti gemuruh petir, udara di sekitar pisanya memberi cahaya biru. Listrik, dan tidak sedikit pun. Untungnya, Jake melepasnya tepat pada waktu yang tepat, menghindari sengatan. Ia tetap terluka akibat listrik, namun tak seburuk yang seharusnya, terutama karena berada di air.
T
Casper solved the puzzle and shattered the spatial bindings holding the final fragment as Lyra flew up and grabbed it. She returned it to him, and he inspected it to make sure everything was in order.
[World Fragment of Yalsten (Unique)] – One of five World Fragment of Yalsten, the cornerstones of the miniature world. As Yalsten began falling apart, the World Core was split into five and scattered in the cardinal directions of the world to stabilize it. What has broken cannot be restored, but the fragments can be combined into Quasi-Core once more. Be warned that creating a new core from the fragments will permanently destroy the world known as Yalsten . Cores will automatically reform if close to each other.
When coming to this place, the undead faction had two primary goals. This was the first of them. A World Core was something even gods sometimes desired, as it allowed one to create a true world. Not a full universe, but a world that existed within the endless Void between the universes.
These worlds could vary vastly in size, from no larger than a single room to millions of galaxies. Compared to a real universe, this was still only a mere fraction, but these worlds were far easier to control, customize, and defend compared to managing a section within a universe. However, they also had many drawbacks, such as their fragility and the fact that the world would become effectively inaccessible if all access points were cut off. This is what happened to Yalsten.
What Casper and the undead would get wasn’t a true World Core. That ship had already sailed and what they would instead get was a World Quasi-Core. This core would not allow them to establish a stable world, but it could serve other means. Of all the treasures in the Treasure Hunt, this core was possibly the most valuable.
To assemble it, Casper began heading towards the center of the Treasure Hunt – the crystal spire. The final fragment was stored there, and now was the time to make their final preparations for the battle against the guardian.
But for now, Casper needed to keep his distance from the spire, at least a kilometer or so. If he went too close, he would trigger the merging of the fragments, and then the world known as Yalsten would begin its destruction. The unstable space at the edges only didn’t spread due to the fragments Casper had taken, so once combined, nothing would hold the world back from slowly collapsing in upon itself.
Waiting was done not only for the undead but also for the other factions. After all, there were many other valuables to collect. Casper had also naturally seen the opening quest about the Vaults and knew that soon the final stage would begin without him triggering it or not. In the meantime, the undead would make their preparations while searching for the other thing they wanted.
The second item the undead faction really wanted was the Seed of Eternal Resentment, the fulcrum of the ritual that placed the curse upon Yalsten. Needless to say, an item with the ability to store and facilitate a curse able to destroy an entire world wasn’t to be looked down upon. It would no doubt be weakened if removed from Yalsten, but it was still worth it.
However, with this, they reached an impasse. They discovered that the Seed had already sprung long ago. Wood had been created from off-shoots of the Tree of Eternal Resentment and turned into weapons and tools of the Pure One’s faction.
The main tree itself would have had to be thousands of kilometers tall, towering over the world. Yet now, no such tree was to be found, and the undead scrambled to locate any remnants of it. There had to be at least some leaves, bark, or just any wood left… or perhaps just a single root.
“blub blub blub,” Jake complained as he peered down the hole leading into yet another damn cavern, his words roughly translating to: “you gotta be fucking kidding me.”
Of all the Vaults, he had now officially spent the most time in this one. In the first cavern, he had killed fish before proceeding down to the second. Inside there, he had killed slightly stronger fish. The third cavern he had killed fish, but now there were two different kinds – a second variant added with the ability to spew water bullets or something.
Fourth cavern? Two same kinds of fish, but get this, now there were also traps trying to hurt him. Fifth? More fish, more traps, more everything. Sixth, seventh, eighth? Same fucking shit, over and over again. Some were more focused on foes, some more focused on traps, and all of them equally a waste of fucking time.
Jake had gotten a grand total of nine kills that actually gave experience throughout the entire shitshow that was the water vault. It was just cavern after cavern with those air-lock type things in between to increase the pressure. Jake adapted every time, and he honestly barely noticed the difference between each level.
Perhaps it would screw over someone with less physical stats, but Jake handled it easily. The only real consequence was him having to limit his sphere by a little every time. In this ninth room, he had shrunk it down to only fifteen meters, which still served him fine. His eyesight had gotten rather good, so he managed.
Entering his ninth Vault, he checked it out, his sphere, to see what this place had to offer. It appeared to be more of the same as he was instantly assaulted by a school of fish. Jake sighed internally as crystalline bolts of arcane mana began condensing around him.
Some of the crystalline shards Jake still embedded with a bit of destruction, making them explode. The explosion wasn’t meant to damage anything but simply sent smaller splinters of crystal-like arcane mana flying. Arcane frag grenades, if you will.
At the same time, he drew his weapons, preparing for his foes to arrive. Jake still hadn’t found any feasible way to use his bow and arrow underwater, so for now, this was what he had to do. Just before the first fish reached him, his danger sense faintly warned him as he dodged a harpoon fired out of the wall.
Jake dove forward, staying mobile to avoid the traps. He cut and weaved, swimming primarily by condensing and hardening the water under his feet. Sometimes he appeared to be dragged downwards, courtesy of the Pillar on his back which he sometimes used to increase his weight.
For a lot of the rooms, he had simply reached the bottom and killed everything from there, feeling almost as if he was simply fighting flying foes. However, that hadn’t worked for the last two sections, as the bottom was now a forest of large vent-like openings spitting out extremely hot water whenever he got near.
His eyes were tired as the fish were slowly culled. Sometimes he even made use of a trap, slapping a fish into an incoming spear or perhaps impaling one and sending it flying down to the bottom to become a steamed fish.
Jake could easily handle the Terror’s with their large nose, but he did take some damage from the Spitters – the second variant. They fired bullets of pressured water after him, each of them able to leave small circular wounds. One or two were fine, but it was just tiresome when a dozen assaulted him at once.
Ultimately, he spent nearly an hour cleaning up yet another fucking samey session. He found yet another air-lock at the bottom and entered it. He instantly went to the floor of the small chamber and sat down to meditate, his body looking like swiss cheese from all the bullet holes. While meditating, he naturally went through all his lovely notifications.
*You have slain [Deepgorge Terror – lvl 131]*
…
*You have slain [Deepgorge Terror – lvl 141]– Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
And the only other type of foe – because who needs proper enemy diversity in a fucking water level?
*You have slain [Deepgorge Spitter – lvl 133]*
…
*You have slain [Deepgorge Spitter – lvl 143]– Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
Once more, a lot of the same shit with far too many foes he didn’t even get experience from. The Deepgorge Terror fish were, as previously mentioned, bottom-tier D-grades, and the Spitters were barely a level above that. If these were translated to land-dwelling animals, Jake would be able to slaughter them even more easily than the Deepdwellers back in the Undergrowth dungeon.
As he thought this, he reached the end of his notifications and saw one more that made his eyes open wide.
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 139 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*
This shit actually gave me a level?
Doing the math, it seriously shouldn’t have. While Jake had certainly killed a lot, these were weak D-grades and barely any levels above himself. Could it be it’s because of the environment?
Jake did know that a part of how much experience one got was determined by the difficulty of the fights, and he did have to admit that fighting these fish wasn’t easy. He had to apply new methods, and not a single room had left him with more than half of his health remaining.
Shaking his head, Jake simply focused on his meditation, not bothering to think too much about it. Instead, he focused solely on recuperation so he could swiftly move on to the next area. The next one would be the tenth cavern, and he dearly hoped that would be the last one. A part of him had hoped it was only nine, but ten also seemed ‘fitting’ if that was the right word.
A few hours passed as Jake got up, ready to continue. There was now only a bit over a day of the entire Treasure Hunt left, and he seriously couldn’t dally around and play around in these shitty water levels anymore.
The next cavern turned out to not be a cavern at all. Jake looked around and saw he now found himself in what looked like a flooded underwater chamber with large metal pillars everywhere. He was also fairly certain this place was larger than any section prior. This change could only mean one thing:
It was a boss room.
And what did a boss room also indicate? That’s right, the end of the challenge.
Jake made a toothy smile, prepared to face whatever monstrosity was hiding within. Yet, just as he was beginning to get himself riled up, he spotted a figure out the corner of his eye. It was a long snake-like creature that was more than five meters long. He turned towards it and Identified it.
[Fulgarian Eel – lvl 140]
The slithering beast also saw Jake at the same moment. It darted towards him with its mouth open, even faster than the Terrors from the other chambers. He reacted by drawing his blades and winding up his arcane magic.
With a slash, he met the charging beast. It angled itself to bite into his sword, catching it between its razor-sharp teeth. Jake thought it moronic to do so until the very next moment. His danger sense reacted as he quickly let go of the Nanoblade he had used to attack.
A thunderclap was heard as the area lit up with blue light from his blade. Electricity, and not a small amount either. Luckily, he had let go at the very last moment, avoiding being zapped. He was still hurt by the electricity, but not as much as he would expect, being in water and all.
His body was temporarily paralyzed, but it did little to stop his arcane magic. Crystalline bolts hammered into the side of the eel, leaving nasty punctures along its side. It made an odd screeching sound in anger and pain, but all that did was to make Jake continue his assault.
Covering his body in Scales of the Malefic Viper, Jake dove in, scimitar at the ready. He retrieved his Nanoblade and attacked the eel with both of them, leaving a few nasty cuts. The eel turned around in the water, sending out a pulse of electricity after Jake, but this time his scales were up. The paralysis was negated as the beast didn’t bite down on a tasty Jake, but instead a blade stabbing into its open mouth.
Frowning, Jake wondered if this could truly be the boss? It was stronger than the fish, sure, but it wasn’t exactly boss-level or anything. Dislodging his blade, he attacked yet another time as another current of electric energy was emitted, this time at higher power, actually managing to penetrate his scales. Clearly, this was not done with the intent to paralyze but damage.
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