Alice-chan chuckled softly in amusent as she stood next to Chang Long, while Hisa-chan and Devi-chan held off the two guardians that had turned their attention toward Chang Long. Alice-chan glanced at the strange inscriptions on the altar with a bored expression, while Chang Long looked troubled. No matter how hard she tried to decipher the carvings, none of it made sense.
"Hmm, those three lines look like a chicken's feet, and the circle with a dot in the middle could be a stuffed stead bun. A chicken eating a stead bun... no, that can't be right! Or maybe it's a nest with one egg, a chicken's nest with one egg? Or maybe it's a bird? Why would they carve sothing so simple on a stone altar and make it so complicated?"
Chang Long muttered to herself, causing Alice-chan to gape in disbelief. She looked at her master with exasperation before glancing around the area.
"Do you think those round indentations at the four corners of the altar an sothing?" Alice-chan asked after scanning the surroundings.
"Huh?"
Chang Long snapped her gaze away from the altar, looking at Alice-chan in surprise.
"Look here, the center of the guardians' chests has the sa black stone as the altar, and the size matches those round slots,"
Alice-chan pointed out. Chang Long only just noticed that the Four Stone Guardians had identical black stones embedded in their chests, which also bore the sa intricate patterns as the altar. Earlier, she had not noticed this detail because the guardians stood with their arms crossed over their chests.
"Do you think... we need to take those stones from the guardians and place them in the slots on the altar to reveal the inscriptions?"
Chang Long asked, her eyes lighting up. Alice-chan gave her a sly smile, confirming that Chang Long had guessed correctly.
"But how are we going to do that? The guardians are incredibly strong and nearly impossible to defeat. By the ti we manage to deal with all four, you might have already t your end again. Devi-chan and Hisa-chan are both formidable, but fighting creatures made of solid rock that barely take any damage is no easy task. If sothing goes wrong, you could lose them forever,"
Alice-chan warned, causing Chang Long's heart to skip a beat. The thought of losing Devi-chan or Hisa-chan, both of whom were like her closest friends despite being AI in the ga, was terrifying. Chang Long did not want to lose them.
Arggghhh!
A scream of pain interrupted Chang Long's thoughts, and she quickly turned to see rlin's Top Protege being sliced in half by one of the stone guardians' massive swords, turning into white light and disappeared. The priestess beca the next target, but Aswa narrowly saved her just in ti.
Despite their higher levels, Devi-chan and Hisa-chan could not land any significant blows on the guardians. To make matters worse, Devi-chan's sword had already broken, and Hisa-chan's was so chipped that if they continued to fight, Hisa-chan's sword would likely suffer the sa fate. At that mont, Chang Long realized that she needed to seriously consider enhancing their gear by offering them clothes and weapon. She was not just using their spirits to possess her anymore; she was summoning them through her Spirit Realm skill, which brought spirits back to life in a designated area. However, the downside of this skill was that if those spirits were killed in battle, they would be lost forever and could never be summoned again.
"Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, lure them together!"
Chang Long shouted. She had realized that both Devi-chan and Hisa-chan could no longer effectively attack the four guardians, as their weapons had been destroyed.
Following her orders without fully understanding, Devi-chan and Hisa-chan managed to corral the guardians into one spot (leaving Aswa and Rose wide-eyed in shock). Once they had gathered them together, Chang Long imdiately deactivated her Spirit Realm skill, causing the solid forms of Devi-chan and Hisa-chan to revert to their semi-transparent, ghostly states. Chang Long stared down at her Sovereign Sword and raised her finger toward the sky in the direction where the Four Stone Guardians stood, mimicking Jezebel's movents. Then, she issued a single command.
"Bind."
A large purple magic circle appeared on the ground beneath the four guardians. Aswa and Rose found themselves unable to move at all. Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed from above, and the sky groaned ominously. The spell that Chang Long had cast was exceptionally demanding, and within monts, beads of sweat ford on her arms, legs, and face. She began to pant but kept her finger pointed firmly toward the sky. As the purple magic circle shone to its brightest, Chang Long felt as though her body was either being lifted, or maybe she was collapsing. She then slashed her finger downward through the air, directing the motion toward the magic circle while invoking the na of the spell.
"Calamity Lightning!"
Hundreds, if not thousands, of black lightning bolts shot down from the dark sky, striking the unfortunate targets—who were not only the four guardians. The air was filled with the sounds of screams, crackling electricity, and explosions. How long the cacophony lasted, Chang Long could not tell; it felt as if the sounds were coming from a great distance. She saw two small streaks of white light ascend into the sky before anything else. Shortly afterward, it sounded as if a cliff had crumbled, and dust filled the area, leaving a dense cloud hanging in the air. Finally, silence returned.
Even with her Buppha Garland Pendant, a trinket that helped restore fatigue, Chang Long still had to pull out so rejuvenating crystals to consu and regain her energy. It took several minutes of rest before she could stand again and begin searching for the round stones embedded in the chests of the four guardians amidst the rubble of their bodies. After a long search, leaving her covered in dust and dirt, Chang Long managed to retrieve all four of the heavy, palm-sized stones.
She first placed two stones into the lower corners of the altar, then spread her wings and flew up to slot the remaining two into the upper corners. The altar emitted a clicking sound, and imdiately, the previously unreadable scratches on the surface of the altar began to glow with a dark light. The inscriptions shifted and rearranged themselves until they beca readable.
"The Tribe of Darkness recorded the secrets of the power on this stone."
Chang Long read the newly revealed text aloud. However, only this one sentence was comprehensible. Then, the inscriptions began to shift once more.
"Darkness exists with everything. It can dominate all, blending and flowing, changing and adapting at will."
The ssage appeared and changed again.
"The advanced arts of darkness will not perish with us, the last of the tribe of darkness. Whoever finds this stone tablet and defeats the four guardians deserves to know our greatest secret."
Upon reading this, Chang Long felt her excitent grow. What was this great secret she was about to uncover? What was the imnse power of the tribe of darkness? Only now did she realize that aside from tribes based on beast-type races, there were also tribes divided by elental affinities.
"The power beyond the understanding of ordinary people. A force that could consu the life of its wielder. A power that, when unified, can overco all others. A power that only those with the strongest will can wield. This power is contained in the form of the Eye."
Chang Long stared at the last line, unblinking. Could this Eye be the sa one she already possessed? If so, the secret power the tribe of darkness ntioned must be related to these Eyes.
"An advanced Eye of Darkness…"
Her eyes widened in realization. What did advanced Eye of Darkness an? She knew that each elental Eye contained unique skills related to its elent. If fused with a weapon, the wielder could draw on the Eye's power endlessly. However, if the Eye were shattered, the energy stored within would be unleashed in a devastating explosion, with its destructive power depending on the amount of energy inside. (In case it was broken.)
As Chang Long returned her focus to the inscriptions on the stone, they shifted again, presenting a new arrangent of text that stayed in place.
Darkness and Light = Calamity Lightning
Darkness and Fire = Calamity Fla
Darkness and Water = Abyssal Tide*
Darkness and Wind = Demon Hawk's Shadow
Darkness and Earth = Mausoleum*
Darkness and Cold = Frost Demon
Chang Long gazed at the nas of these Eyes with excitent. She already possessed one of the advanced Eyes of Darkness: Calamity Lightning. The other five were just as intriguing. Although she was not sure of their abilities, she was well aware of the terrifying power of Calamity Lightning, and she suspected the other Eyes held similarly formidable powers.
.....
At the Asian Paradise Corporation, in the ga design and developnt departnt, couple staff mbers responsible for designing quests and events for Adventure World Online were discussing a recent event. It seed this could push them to release a minor patch into the ga system sooner than expected. In front of them, a computer screen displayed the in-ga auction interface. The item drawing the most attention and bids was the Pirate King's Treasure Map, which had been anonymously placed into the auction system by a player.
"It seems the fifth map has surfaced. Looks like we'll need to work even harder now,"
said one staff mber, a skinny man wearing fraless square glasses.
"Not necessarily. I don't think we need to rush it that much. It's just the map. They still need to find the keys, and after that, locate the tomb. I don't think it'll be that easy."
Another staff mber replied, frowning thoughtfully. Though he was the one who had said it, it was clear even he was not entirely sure about his own words.
"Even so, our work isn't easy. The arena for the Seven Kings' Tournant, the new city where it'll be hosted—there are so many details to handle."
The lone female staff mber sighed in frustration. She was already struggling with sleepless nights, and if the players found all the Pirate King's tombs, she feared she and her team would be stuck in front of their screens, unable to move.
"There are still two more maps that haven't been found yet. Let's take it one step at a ti. Oh. The price just jumped to 13 million!"
Exclaid the male staff mber wearing glasses, clearly excited as the bidding for the Pirate King's treasure map climbed again.
"It's only the first day, too. I wonder how high the price will get by the last day. Who knows, it might end up being as valuable as the treasure in the tomb itself,"
another male staff mber remarked.
"You're exaggerating. At most, the bidding won't go over 20 million. Most players don't even have 10 million in assets. The ones who can afford this are the big guilds, and I doubt they'll spend that much!"
The female staff mber said with a frown.
"You don't know gars well enough Think about it. The tomb won't just have treasure. There'll be weapons, the king's outfit set gear, and titles that boost attributes. People will be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on that map!"
The glasses-wearing male staff mber explained to his female friend.
"Those who already have the king's set gear are pretty impressive. Among them, the most famous are Demos of the Doom Star Guild and Siegfried of the Pendragon Guild. The other two are skilled but not as well-known yet,"
another staff mber added.
"Speaking of Demos, I actually t him once when I filled in for GM Tan. He even challenged to a fight. Luckily, we couldn't because it's against GM rules. But from what I saw, he's definitely one of the strongest. Plus, he now holds the title of the Pirate King, said to be the most ruthless and powerful,"
the glasses-wearing staff mber analyzed thoughtfully.
"Not necessarily. Even if a player gets a great title, they won't win if they're not skilled."
The female staff mber argued.
"Demos is strong, no doubt about that, but we can't say for sure who'll co out on top. His competitors are no pushovers either. The final showdown between the kings is going to be epic!"
Another male staff mber chid in excitedly.
"True, but, this is office hour. Why are you all not at your desks?"
A new voice interrupted, abruptly stopped the three's conversation. They turned to look at the source of the sound with horror.
"Boss!"
All three of them exclaid in unison.
"Heh, heh, heh. I didn't think you'd have ti to chat, especially with four Pirate King tombs already discovered,"
their boss said, his voice sharp but his face smiling. The three staff mbers quickly left the seat and returned to their work, focusing on designing and preparing the arena for the kings' battle. Their boss lingered by the screen for a mont, watching the auction progress, before walking away. The Pirate King's treasure map had now reached 13.5 million coins.
…..
Before Chang Long could fully absorb the nas of the Eyes listed on the stone tablet, the text disappeared. A faint click echoed, and a small square crack appeared in the center of the stone slab. Curious, Chang Long pried open the crack and discovered a small black velvet box, about the size of her palm. When she opened it, she found a pitch-black Eye of Darkness resting inside.
Chang Long picked up the Eye to inspect it. Was this a regular Eye of Darkness, or one of the advanced Eyes of Darkness? She compared it to the Eye already embedded in her sword, which emitted a faint white glow, barely visible in the dim light of the Purple Forest. A regular Eye of Darkness would not glow, but if observed closely, one could see swirling energy inside it. Advanced Eyes of Darkness, however, were completely black, with no visible energy, only glowing based on their combined elent. Holding the newly found Eye in her palm, it emitted a soft brownish glow, making Chang Long grin widely.
"What's that, missy?"
Devi-chan asked with interest, as he had also been reading the inscriptions on the stone slab.
"An advanced Eye of Darkness,"
Chang Long replied, her gaze still fixed on the Eye in her hand.
"Really? I can't believe you got a second one so easily,"
Devi-chan exclaid in astonishnt.
"How was that easy? We had to defeat those brutal guardians to get it,"
Chang Long retorted with a frown.
-----
Read 'Adventure World Online (AWO)' before anyone else with more chapters at sjinovel/en
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