"Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you to learn your level twenty skills."
With Lily on his right and Amber on his left, Marcus escorted them toward the class trainers, moving through the familiar bustle of the city with an easy, practiced stride.
As a Cleric, Lily could learn her new abilities directly from the elder stationed in the Guild Hall, a simple and straightforward process. Amber’s situation was far less ordinary. Her hidden class, Elven Archer, could not be trained within human lands at all. According to the clues they had uncovered back in the Newbie Village, she would need to travel to the Elven Kingdom, Forest City, and locate a wandering Elven emissary in order to unlock her level twenty skills.
"Marcus, you should go handle your level thirty Dragon’s Crest quest," Amber said after thinking it through. "Lily and I can search for the Elven emissary ourselves."
Marcus had already offered to help her, but Amber refused without hesitation. She insisted that having a "monster" like him along would completely ruin the challenge and the fun of exploration. More than that, she wanted to see if she could stumble upon a hidden quest for him along the way.
There was no real way to argue with that logic. In the end, Marcus agreed and turned his attention back to his own objective. The Dragon’s Crest quest had been weighing on his mind for days, especially because of the rumors surrounding it. Sowhere inside the Mist Veil Palace, top-tier equipnt was said to be waiting, untouched since ancient tis.
This was not a quest he could afford to take lightly. He carefully stocked his inventory with potions, scrolls, and various utility items, checking everything twice. With Lily and Amber accompanying him for part of the journey, he mounted up and headed toward the Mist Veil Palace, which lay not far from the City of Mountains, Ironstone Citadel.
The Mist Veil Palace was once a branch temple of the Water Moon Cult, a heretical organisation that had existed over a thousand years ago. At the height of its power, the cult had been infamous throughout the continent. They had not only sought to overthrow the Dragon Dynasty, but had also harbored the audacious ambition of replacing the Goddess of Dreams herself and claiming dominion over the Dreamland Continent.
Unable to challenge a goddess directly, the Water Moon Cult turned to forbidden thods. They unsealed several ancient Calamity Beasts, believing they could control them and use their power as weapons. Instead, the beasts imdiately broke free, turning on their summoners and wreaking catastrophic destruction. Once unleashed, they rampaged across the continent, leaving entire regions in ruins.
In the end, the Goddess of Dreams dispatched her followers to assist the Dragon Dynasty in purging the cult. The campaign that followed was ruthless and overwhelming. One by one, the Water Moon Cult’s temples were destroyed, their mbers hunted down and eradicated. Still, so of their most secretive locations were never discovered, including their true headquarters.
The Mist Veil Palace had been the cult’s branch temple near Ironstone Citadel. When the imperial forces finally attacked it, the cultists responded with fanatic desperation. They sacrificed their own lives to summon vast numbers of dark creatures into the palace, including several high-level entities that even the Dragon Dynasty’s elites could not imdiately defeat. From that mont on, the Mist Veil Palace beca a monster-infested ruin, and no one ever reclaid it.
Because the assault had been sudden and chaotic, enormous amounts of treasure were left behind. Over the years, countless adventurers tried to venture inside in search of fortune. Only a handful ever returned, and even they had barely explored the outermost areas. Anyone who attempted to push deeper into the palace was never seen again.
According to legend, reaching the depths of the Mist Veil Palace required a minimum level of eighty and equipnt blessed with divine power. Later, the Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna sealed the palace using the Boundary Stone Needle, restricting entry to those at or below level thirty. From that day forward, the palace’s treasures remained untouched, locked away behind the seal.
Silas the Wanderer’s map offered little help. By the ti Silas had discovered the palace, his level already exceeded the seal’s limit, preventing him from entering at all. All he had written beside its na were two simple phrases: "Mist Veil Palace. A regret."
With Lily and Amber still beside him, Marcus rode up to the entrance and dismounted. Thick, cloud-like mist churned before them, completely obscuring the palace beyond. From the outside, there was nothing to see at all. Rembering the grim history Marcus had just recounted, both won fell silent.
"Marcus, you have to be careful," Lily said softly, her eyes full of worry. She clearly wished she could go in with him.
"Don’t worry," Marcus replied, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "You know what kind of monster your man is. I’ll be fine."
"Take the Violet Thunderwing Steed with you," Amber added after a mont. "Being able to fly might save your life."
"Alright," Marcus said with a smile. "Just wait for my good news."
After so effort, he finally convinced them to leave. He watched as Lily and Amber reluctantly activated their Town Portal Scrolls and vanished in flashes of light, returning to Dragon’s Peak Citadel. Once they were gone, Marcus summoned his Temple Guardian, Pebble.
Pebble stood before him clad in the sa Cabaro’s Set, bearing the divine Adamant Shield and wielding the mythic Bat Dragon Cloud Sword. The resemblance was striking, and the overall effect was undeniably imposing. ’Of course, he’s just a reflection of ,’ Marcus thought with a faint smirk.
Next, he mounted his Nightmare Dragon Steed and summoned the Shadow-Stained Gryphon King. One by one, he activated his buffs, the defensive aura from his shield, the speed enhancent from his sword, and the powerful abilities Ascendant’s Domain and Knight’s Prayer. When he finished, he was operating at his absolute peak, fully prepared to proceed with extre caution.
He deliberately avoided using any skills with cooldowns longer than an hour. Those were his trump cards, ant to be saved for truly critical monts.
This was no joke. He had not co to the Mist Veil Palace for a leisurely stroll. Countless level thirty experts had entered this place and never returned. Arrogance here would be fatal.
He seriously doubted the palace was filled with breathtaking scenery or charming figures that tempted people to stay forever. The more likely explanation was far worse. A super boss, perhaps a Divine Beast, a Mythic Beast, or sothing even more terrifying, could be lurking right at the entrance, ready to instantly kill any player foolish enough to step inside. That would certainly explain the complete lack of survivors.
For all he knew, the entrance itself might be the mouth of so colossal creature, patiently waiting. A player walks in, the jaws snap shut, and crunch, crunch, crunch. Marcus grimaced. He had clearly been watching too many horror movies.
’No worries. I have a plan,’ he told himself.
He activated Phantom. Instantly, Marcus, his mount, his pets, and even Pebble vanished from sight, completely invisible. Using the Boundary Stone, he sent Pebble ahead first, then followed at a asured pace, stepping through the swirling mist and into the Mist Veil Palace.
After passing through the fog, his vision gradually cleared. He was inside.
Marcus scanned his surroundings carefully. The area was eerily quiet. A few towering trees stood nearby, and small animals moved cautiously through the undergrowth, but there was no sign of danger. The silence felt unnatural, far removed from the chaotic battlefield he had imagined.
’Could the enemy be invisible too,’ he wondered. ’Great. Now you can’t see , and I can’t see you.’
He imdiately activated Insight, scanning the five-ter radius around him. The result was reassuring. No monsters. No hidden threats. No ambushes. It seed he had overthought the situation.
Looking deeper into the palace grounds, he saw that thick fog still clung to the air, blurring the outlines of distant structures and reducing everything to vague, indistinct shapes. He could make out no clear details at all.
’Strange,’ he thought. ’If the entrance is this safe, with no monsters or traps, why has no one ever made it back out?’
He turned and looked behind him at the entrance he had just passed through, which should also have been the exit.
It appeared exactly as it had from the outside, a swirling vortex of mist. This ti, however, there was a crucial difference. From within the palace, Marcus could clearly see that the entire massive complex was enclosed within a huge, oval-shaped barrier of white energy. Through that barrier, the outside world was visible, and the entrance itself was embedded directly into the shield.
’So this is the seal,’ he realized. This white, oval barrier had to be the work of the Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna and the Boundary Stone Needle, transforming the Mist Veil Palace into a completely closed space. But if the exit was right there in front of him, why had no one ever been able to leave?
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