Chapter 578 - 524: Memories (1/2)
”It's so fast!”
Maxine swung her sword at the Bee, which was ten times the size of the one Arthur and Celes captured. It looked ominous with its six wings flapping endlessly and emitting yellow particles in the air.
The area they were in was previously a desolate land, an ancient battlefield, though it drastically changed due to Lucy's magma. It's as if a volcano erupted here, the ground was filled with red hot Lava and the heat was suffocating, it even made the female player sweat profusely.
Lucy changed the environment, making it unfavorable for the insect, which couldn't fly properly and ended up falling into a pool of lava after having four of its wings cut by precise attacks of Max. Before it died, Lucy managed to touch the Bee, allowing her and her partner to enter the 4th floor, at last.
****
”Contestant, welcome to the 4th floor, Alliance.”
Arthur found himself standing in a luxurious room with a lot of furniture, tables filled with foods and drinks, large and beautiful paintings, and golden and silver statues of what seemed to be commanders of various races, be it dwarves, elves, demons, or even fishmen.
Obviously, he wasn't the only here as he noticed the presence of many of the contestants. Some were unfamiliar and others were individuals he met or previously read or know about, like the Sword God, Tula, or the thief. There was even a large purple beast sleeping on the side, undisturbed by anyone, though many were throwing cursory glances at it.
*On this floor, your skills, techniques, spells, cultivation, levels… will be temporarily disabled. The task will be to defend the city from the foreign attacking force. To reach the fifth floor, you'll have to pass through the Sky Door. Cooperation of all the contestants will be needed to fight against the aliens and emerge victorious. You'll obtain points by killing the enemies and they can be spent in the luxury shop accessed on the menu.
Anything bought in the store will be accessible on the 5th floor. The event will begin once 501 contestants appear in the waiting room.
Current number of contestants: 389*
Arthur listened to the voice of the Red Tower, trying to understand what needs to be done.
'It mentioned a task but it didn't say that it's obligatory to complete it. Can I go directly to the fifth floor if I pass the Sky Door?'
He contemplated over what was said, ignoring the gazes he was getting. Ever since his fierce battle on the 2nd floor, Arthur became notorious, moreover, he was already infamous in the Cloud Sea Universe.
He was the parasite banished by the monks to Riarravar, so his appearance here surprised many people.
The system was locked and, just like it was mentioned, almost everything was disabled. The only thing he could use was Dark Magic, it was available because it wasn't categorized as a skill or a technique. To use Dark Magic, he needs Dark Mana, which is something acquired by converting normal Mana. Fortunately, the talisman inside of him is capable of storing Dark Magic and, currently, there's a decent amount acc.u.mulated there. He just needs to use it wisely and not unleash all in one-go.
The Luxury Store is something any contestant can use, it functions like the system and can be opened anywhere. It's a small icon on the bottom left of Arthur's sight, it can be hidden and isn't really that bothersome.
On the 2nd floor, he obtained a decent amount of points, however, it didn't seem to be enough to buy anything useful. It has to be said that there were a lot of useful and miraculous items displayed in the store.
There were vials and elixirs that permanently increase your stats, empowers your cultivation, or even widens your meridians to increase your future potential. He even found blood droplets belonging to Divine and mythical beasts, though the prices were exorbitant, to say the least.
The true blood of a phoenix costs 5 million points… a frozen feather of an Ice Phoenix is 15 million points. Of course, there were equipment and even something that shocked Arthur, it was a seed of Dark Magic, something that only he can make. From the description written under it, Arthur realized that it's a more powerful variation of the ones he's able to conjure, moreover, it actually grants the user real Dark Magic, not artificial one like the Gutcha's. The price for this was a whopping 200 million points, the fourth most expensive thing.
The first was a Blessing Stone, the prize for winning the competition. Quite surprisingly, it can also be obtained if you have enough points… that is to say, 2.5 billion points. The second one was the Star Void Physique manual, the strongest of all physiques. What makes it special is that anyone can acquire it, you don't need to meet special requirements.