169 Rewards (1/2)

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\”Well done.\”

Sometime after Raven killed the main body of the Phantasm, the method to leave was revealed to him so he didn't waste too much time inside the pocket dimension anymore. He took advantage of the chaos and wiped he treasury of Raul clean and left it in his storage pouch along with his farewell letter.

When he focused on his intent to leave the realm, his body was sucked in by some foreign force. He momentarily lost vision and when it returned, he was back at the palace grounds and he heard Inos' voice.

\”Thanks. That's a weird experience.\” Raven replied with a wry smile.

\”I know right?\” Inos said with a smile, \”Anyway, congratulations for making it in this stage without dying even once. Since you reached the first checkpoint, the road from here on out will only get harder so you have to prepare.\”

Raven nodded to Inos' explanation, come to think of it, the whole resurrection thing was still something that he hadn't experienced before. He didn't know if he should feel lucky that he hadn't had to take advantage of it, since he shouldn't get used to dying repeatedly because that would be a bad habit, or not.

\”Anyway, it's time for you to receive your rewards based on your participation. Focus on the golden imprint on your psyche.\”

Raven nodded and followed his instructions. He saw the floating golden imprint on his psyche and focused his attention on it. Suddenly, a strange and archaic voice echoed inside his mind…

\”First Pocket Dimension: Cleared. Releasing rewards based on performance…\” the archaic voice became silent for a bit after saying this. After that, it spoke once more.

\”Calculations finished. First Mission Final Grade: S, candidate will be rewarded with…\”

\”[Book of Chaos: First Chapter], Archaic Hammer, and Mount Seed.\”

\”Oh?\” Raven let out a surprised sound as he heard this. Suddenly, three items popped out of existence and floated in front of him. First was an ancient looking book, next was a hammer and the last one is a bean-sized seed.

\”Huh? They gave the first chapter to you this early?\” Inos commented on the side, clearly surprised when he saw the book.

\”You know this book?\”

\”Know it?\” Inos laughed and explained, \”That's an understatement, not only me but every Heir of the Ancient Divine Crown used it. Pay attention to it.\”

Raven raised an eyebrow when he heard this. All of the previous Heir used this book? Then it must be something good then. He decided to carefully read its contents later…

\”What about these two then?\” Raven asked.

\”I don't know.\” Inos flatly replied. \”I never seen the hammer and the seed looks like a mount seed and if I'm right, then it's pretty obvious what it does. What I could say is that the crown won't hand out these rewards without a purpose, so you might want to spend some time thinking about it.\”

\”Is that so…\” Raven said in a whisper.

\”Anyway. You've reached the first checkpoint and cleared it. You cleared one out of many steps you have to clear before becoming the True Heir. Work hard and search for the next pocket dimensions, I'll appear once again once you found the 10th pocket dimension.\” And with that, Inos' silhouette disappeared, leaving Raven alone inside the Palace Grounds.

Many thoughts and speculations surfaced over Raven's mind, but he forcefully broke his trance and decided to not think too much, all of his questions will be answered once he became the rightful heir so there's no use stressing himself too much about it.