On this continent filled with spirit energy legends, any high-tier unit’s training cannot avoid this ritual of introducing external energy.
After all, individual life is always fragile compared to the vast mysterious powers, and the combination of individuals with mysterious forces can clearly bring about transformative effects.
Because of this, Countess Sharon and Knight Valand must first re-establish the covenant of protection with the ancestral forest to quickly rebuild the winged cavalry formation.
Only by regaining the blessing of the forest spirits can the newly recruited cavalry obtain supernatural power and swiftness enhancents, and only this way can they maintain the “undefeated legend” of the winged cavalry in Transia.
This should have been a generational secret passed down by the Seicore family, the mountain folk leaders.
Unfortunately, little Sharon, who took on the title of Countess of Seicob during the crisis, only learned this secret two days ago, from her deceased father.
To re-establish the war contract blessing all new winged cavalry mbers with the ancestral forest, they need a mysterious “Wooden Holy Grail”, but that thing has always been hidden in the first Count Seicore’s tomb.
The ravages of war not only tornt the living but also desecrate the dead.
Years of warfare have damaged the family tomb beyond recognition, to the point where at this sacred mont, little Sharon had to place her hopes on two “grave robbers”.
Dorothy, with her rather colorful life experience, and her apprentice thief Frostfang Claw, who professionally did this work in another world, were now searching in the first Count Seicore’s tomb.
They didn’t go down alone, they even brought a “professional team”.
Because of ow King’s misfortune of getting banned from the ga for 7 days due to his recklessness, his other brothers in the Big Bird Spin Spin Spin team beca headless flies not knowing what to do. They happened to et Frostfang Claw who was going “tomb raiding”, and the little players who never want to miss any “special gaplay” certainly couldn’t miss this.
They were technically doing “legal grave robbing”, but before going down into the collapsed tomb, Lord Murphy personally cautioned them:
Do not touch anything that shouldn’t be brought out!
The first Count Seicore’s tomb was considered “forbidden ground” in this forest area, allowing them to go down was already thanks to Little Countess Sharon using the Seicore family’s prestige to vouch for them with the mountain folk elders.
If the mountain warriors guarding around found out they had stolen burial goods when they ca up, then even Murphy couldn’t protect them.
It must be said that for Dorothy who had worked as a grave robber for a period of ti, this restriction was almost more painful than killing her.
After all, there were truly many “good things” in this Count Seicore’s tomb.
“This is a tomb over 300 years old, its underground main structure is still intact, but Countess Sharon explicitly said there must be traps here to prevent grave robbers, so control yourselves later, absolutely do not touch things you shouldn’t.”
Frostfang Claw, who was quiet and sowhat socially anxious on the surface, imdiately beca “talkative” once entering the tomb.
This was probably related to so characteristic of his profession.
In the dark tomb passage he held a torch, skillfully avoiding obviously problematic places in the tomb with a relaxed feeling of “revisiting familiar ground”, while explaining to the Four Heavenly Kings, Little Hands and Tobacco Mulberry following behind him in a “tour guide” manner:
“Stay close to , don’t panic if you trigger any traps, considering this is a family tomb, there probably won’t be anything ridiculous that would cause the entire structure to collapse once triggered, so in most cases we can actually save the situation.
But you must be bold yet careful, never panic when encountering things! If you need to find a place to hide, rember to go to wall corners, in the worst case go into the stone coffin, the saying that wherever looks safest is actually most dangerous is not just a catchphrase.”
“Wow, bro you’re so professional.”
Led More Than Three to Five Pecks carried a shield while holding a torch, he looked around in the darkness and asked Frostfang Claw in a low voice:
“Is this what you do in real life?”
“Sothing like that.”
Fang made a grin in the darkness, without further explanation.
Being back in this dim environnt actually gave him a sowhat eerily “comfortable” feeling, and looking up, he saw his ntor Dorothy already standing by a broken wall studying a damaged gargoyle head sculpture.
When the players walked over, they discovered several corpses lying ssily by that broken wall.
“Looks like we’re not the first ones to co down.”
Dorothy glanced at the dried but still decaying corpses at her feet, she pointed at the damaged gargoyle sculpture in front of her and said with a grimace:
“These unfortunate ones are wearing Goldflower Kingdom military uniforms, probably scouts sent by the Pioneer Army. These guys are really unprofessional! They actually dared to approach such an obvious spirit energy trap. When I used to raid tombs, not bragging, but I could spot obvious traps like this at a glance.”
“They weren’t all killed by spirit energy blasts.”
Fangfang crouched down, examining the “predecessors'” corpses with the caution a rogue should have, finding bite marks on one of them.
He looked at the iron door leading to the main tomb chamber that had already been pushed open, and said:
“There must be so supernatural things in here, Countess Sharon said that when the first generation Seicore family ancestor was buried, his favorite war hounds were also buried here with him.”
“Damn, there really are ghosts here?”
Tobacco Mulberry among the crowd shuddered, suddenly realizing that coming down here as a scout with no fighting ability seed a bit risky.
But the other players didn’t mind.
They just silently drew their weapons, preparing to face possible dangers ahead.
“Put your weapons away!”
Dorothy scolded:
“I have the Seicore family crest that Countess Sharon gave, this is enough to prevent us from being attacked by the tomb’s undead guardians, but you carrying weapons to et their ancestors would be hard to explain.
In my experience, the dead don’t have the patience to reason with you.”
“Oh.”
After being scolded by the NPC, the players obediently put away their weapons, and followed Dorothy deeper into the tomb.
The path ahead had collapsed badly and even had accumulated water, requiring several strength-based “beast” players to step forward as the “shovel class” to quickly clear a path amid flying bricks and stones.
This was also the main reason Dorothy and Fangfang brought them down.
“The collapsed tomb passage isn’t all bad news, several hidden traps were also destroyed along with it.”
Fang circled around the area several tis then reported to Dorothy:
“The paths to the side burial chambers are completely blocked by fallen rocks, so we don’t need to worry about being attacked by the winged cavalry warrior souls buried with Count Seicore. I now strongly suspect this tomb’s damage may not have been accidental.
Perhaps the Pioneer Army deliberately attacked here to allow their scouts safe entry into the tomb, perhaps they also wanted to take sothing from here.
Like the holy grail we ca down to find.”
“Why do you definitely think it was the Pioneer Army who wanted to do this?”
Dorothy, with her quite rich life experience, shook her head and said:
“Those few corpses wearing Pioneer Army uniforms doesn’t necessarily an they were that half-dwarf’s subordinates. From my understanding of dwarven customs, grave robbing and disturbing the dead’s peace is an unforgivable sin in their culture.
They believe these resting places beneath the earth are all sanctuaries protected by the Earth Mother, and Lady Gaia’s divine domain indeed includes being ‘guardian of the dead and tombs’.
So I guess the exploration of this tomb very likely ca from so hidden forces within the Pioneer Army.”
Frostfang Claw nodded.
His ntor’s analysis of these local customs was all very reasonable, this was the experience and way of thinking he had to learn.
“However, what surprised is that you seem very familiar with tombs which normal people tend to avoid, the way you walk in darkness looks exactly like an expert returning to their domain.”
Dorothy looked her otherworld apprentice up and down, her eyes emitting a faint red glow in the darkness, after a few seconds of contemplation, she moved closer to Fangfang and said quietly:
“This tomb is a treasury we can’t plunder, but I know of other ‘wealth’ hidden underground in Transia, why don’t we cooperate? We could definitely get rich.”
“No, I refuse to accumulate wealth through such disgusting ans.”
Fangfang rejected very decisively:
“My professional ethics don’t allow to do such things, if I develop bad habits here, it would make commit unforgivable mistakes back ho. You should find others who are interested.”
“Hmph, forget it then.”
Dorothy pursed her lips and said:
“Taking a bunch of rookies into dangerous tombs to seek treasure is like burying yourself halfway, I’ll wait until the other Blood Rat Gang mbers grow up before discussing these plans.
But my apprentice, you need to understand, in our line of work if you want to get rich you have to put down morality, so much wealth buried underground never seeing daylight, we’re just bringing it back to the world to do sothing aningful.”
“Is that how you self-hypnotize?”
Fangfang said with slight disdain:
“Taking burial goods in a world without spirit energy would face both ntal and legal condemnation, but on this land filled with magical forces the price to pay for daring to disturb the dead’s peace is almost multiplied tenfold.
I advise you not to do these things anymore.
Even if you’re a vampire you can’t protect yourself from failing forever, if you happen to offend an extrely powerful evil spirit, I’m afraid I’ll have to find ti to send your ashes back to your hotown thousands of kiloters away, then spend ti attending your morial service.”
“Hmph, this is just our profession’s ‘occupational hazard’.”
Dorothy felt a bit creeped out by her apprentice’s words.
She recalled there were indeed many cases in the Explorers Association she used to be in showing that thieves with sticky fingers often didn’t end well, but how could soone with her stubborn personality admit defeat?
And while these master and apprentice were bickering, several players from the Big Bird Spin Spin Spin team had already efficiently cleared the collapsed tomb passage, but at the mont the last rock was pushed away, Led More Than Three to Five Pecks and Black Stockings Brother holding shovels imdiately froze in place.
In the pitch-black tomb passage before their eyes, 5 half-ghost war hounds still wearing rusted armor were staring at these “uninvited guests” with eyes burning with ghostly blue fire.
These war hound spirits were each half a human’s height, and their postures ready to pounce and spiritual fangs opened fiercely made the two little players who saw them lose their souls in terror.
“5 tomb spirits! All marked as special Black Iron elite ‘Guardian Spirits’! Damn, don’t move! They’re watching us.”
Led More Than Three to Five Pecks issued a low warning, telling Little Hands and Tobacco Mulberry behind him not to run, if they happened to draw these war hounds’ pursuit in such narrow terrain they would be finished.
“Stand down! We are envoys of the current Count Seicore!”
Just as the little players were in a standoff, Dorothy quickly stepped forward, holding Little Countess Sharon’s family crest while shouting at the five fierce war hounds before her.
The aura emanating from that family crest made the ghost war hounds who had entered combat stance show confusion.
The largest and most imposing war hound leading them ca forward to sniff as if it were still alive, after confirming the family crest in Dorothy’s hand ca from Seicore bloodline, it let out a hollow and deep bark, making the war hounds clear a path.
“Follow , don’t panic.”
Dorothy said to those behind her.
She took a step into the tomb passage ahead, with Fangfang following, the other players filed in, finally entering the burial chamber of the first Count Seicore under the “watch” of those ghost big dogs.
This place was unexpectedly simple.
In the very center lay a stone coffin entwined with black vines, along with so burial goods the tomb’s occupant had used in life, but on either side of the tomb were two strange “scarecrows”.
They were human-like figures with deer antlers made of special wood and vines woven together.
“Those are ritual objects for summoning deer-headed spirits.”
Dorothy explained in a low voice:
“If grave robbers who don’t know what they’re doing randomly take things from here it would trigger the summoning ritual, two deer-headed spirits would appear here, combined with five ghost war hounds is enough to bury any grave robbing team.
I heard deer-headed spirits can also bind souls, in other words, if you die by their hands, you won’t even have a chance for your soul to return to the netherworld.”
“Look! There’s treasure!”
Old Tune with the sharpest eyes surveyed the surroundings, finally laying his gaze on top of the stone coffin, where the first count’s weapons and armor used in life were placed.
The beast-head decorated armor’s grade couldn’t really be discerned, but that barbarian-style double-bladed battle axe still danced with sharp and cold light under the torches’ illumination despite spending over 300 years in the tomb.
Clearly not an ordinary item.
The several mbers of Big Bird Spin Spin Spin team looked at each other.
They were all a bit tempted, after all for players, finally being allowed into such a forbidden place and actually finding good items, it felt a bit wasteful not to take them out.
“If you want to court death don’t drag into it!”
Fangfang sensed his companions’ desire in their hearts, he imdiately advised:
“This ti is for a story quest, don’t ss around, if you really want it then wait until after things are over to organize people to co back and plunder once. You all know the way now, but I estimate as soon as you pick up that battle axe it will trigger the tomb’s traps.
Just from what we’ve seen of these asures’ strength, I estimate you’d need at least 10 Black Iron warriors to co to have a chance of beating this scene battle.
And if you take this axe, you’ll definitely beco enemies with the Seicore family, but Little Countess Sharon is an important NPC for engineering professions, plus there’s the Winged Cavalry faction reputation.
Unless that’s truly a legendary weapon, it’s completely not worth it!”
“Makes sense.”
Old Tune regretfully withdrew his gaze.
But soon, Little Hands next to him ca over and whispered sothing, making the other Big Bird Spin Spin Spin team mbers montarily stunned, but they quickly seed to reach an agreent.
Fangfang didn’t know what decision they had made, but he could guess these guys probably didn’t want to give up the benefits here.
He didn’t try to persuade them further either.
After all this was just a ga, he could only control his own morals, there was no way to restrict other players’ ways of enjoying the ga.
He and Dorothy bowed before the first count’s stone coffin, then began searching for the needed “quest item”, but that wooden holy grail wasn’t hidden very deep.
It was placed on the table in front of the stone coffin, an ordinary looking cup made of so special wood material, when Frostfang Claw picked it up he casually activated item identification, but the information obtained made his eyes light up:
Na: Avalon’s Wooden Holy Grail
Quality: Wonder – Divine Gift
Effects:
1. Those holding the holy grail with mountain folk bloodline can communicate with forest spirits and seek blessings.
2. After eting specific conditions, drinking water from this holy grail can complete special profession “Holy Grail Knight” class change.
Note!
This profession is “Special – Oath-keeper Sequence”, once breaking profession oath will suffer terrible punishnt.
Creator: Forest Mother Avalon – Astral Forge
Item Description:
【There are legends of holy grails all across the continent, in these different versions of legends there is one common point, that only those heroes who withstand trials may drink from the holy grail’s water and receive power’s blessing.
What you hold is just one among many holy grails.
It is not suitable for the path you currently chose, but don’t be discouraged, as long as you don’t stop moving forward, you will always obtain the holy grail ant for you on the road to legend.】
“Got it, let’s leave.”
Fangfang turned back to say to his player companions, but heard the Big Bird team folks discussing an outrageous matter in whispers:
“So, in conclusion, where should we find a batch of fearless grave robbers with dedication? They take the bla, we take the benefits. If operated well, forget about just weapons and loot, we could even farm a ton of reputation with Countess Sharon.
Hey, why don’t we spread the map of this tomb?
There will always be foolish people who aren’t afraid of death coming to get rich, at that ti, won’t we brothers have our way in?
Tsk tsk, all according to plan!”
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