Broadcasting Live From Inside An Eldritch Horror Game

Chapter 67: The First ’Obelisk’. Part-1.

As the torch fell into the giant cauldron, the flames within it came in touch with the shiny golden particles floating in the middle of the cauldron, and a reaction happened almost instantly!

Pure white flames lit up in the middle of the cauldron and started spreading out at a rapid pace!

Before Zephyr could react, the pure white flames had spread all over the inside of the giant cauldron, and the flow of mana in the entire area around him had changed drastically.

Zephyr raised his head to look at the sky only to see dark clouds made of dense mana gathering around in the sky.

The very flow of mana in the entire eternal garden had changed, and the mana of the entire area started to flow in the direction of the flames as if acting as the fuel of this flame.

A distant whisper entered Zephyr’s ear from an unknown origin, causing him to be startled.

{Thy unbreakable spirit is praiseworthy... Thou art qualified to be a true ’Torchbearer of Hope’...}

The whisper was faint and distant, but for some reason, Zephyr could hear it very clearly as if those words resonated with him deeply.

[Ding! Congratulations! Your efforts have proved to be fruitful! You have successfully completed the trial of the ’Torchbearer of Hope’!]

[Ding! You have been granted a new title, ’Torchbearer of Hope’!]

Feeling curious about this strange title, Zephyr clicked on it to see the description and was surprised to see its effects.

[Title Name: Torchbearer of Hope]

[Title Type: Unique]

[Title Description: Heroes, Demons, Humans, etc. Many ambitious people exist in this reality, but barely anyone manages to fulfill their true dreams in the end.

Reaching the ’Destination Point’ of your ’Path,’ your ’Dream’ is not just about reaching your own goals; it’s about carrying the torch of ’Hope’ that the past self of yours handed to you to carry it to the future and beyond!

Go forth, ’Zephyr Reid’; your efforts have been acknowledged by the various ’Laws’ of the ’World.’ Carry the torch of hope to the ’Final Point’; from now on, you are your own ’Torchbearer of Hope’!]

[Title Effects:

1. From now on, the ’Laws’ of the ’World’ will help you to certain extents on your ’Path.’

2. The chance of understanding your ’Path’ would increase for you.

3. Your journey to your ’Destination Point’ will be smoother from now on.

4. As a ’torchbearer of hope,’ you are immune to many negative ailments and many debuffs.

5. You have a clearer vision of your ’Path.’]

...

"Whoa... this title is no joke; it’s got so many effects! And all of them are passive abilities that would help increase my chances of reaching my goals and will indirectly increase my survivability...’

’For someone with a negative luck stat like me, this title is extremely useful! It might even help me offset the effects of my bad luck at some critical junctures in the future!’

The negative luck stat had been bugging Zephyr for a long time now.

Back when he was walking through the sea of ash, he kept encountering dangers one after another, and even after getting to the town of giants, he couldn’t find anything worthwhile despite searching every house.

He barely found a dead chicken, and when he tried to eat it, he got ambushed by someone as strong as Xinran right away.

Zephyr refused to believe that all these incidents were not happening one after another mainly because of his insanely sh*tty luck!

’Atleast with this title my bad luck will be diluted a bit, and I will still be able to move forward on my ’Path’ with fewer ’obstacles’...’

’If I left it all to luck, I might never even be able to step a single step forward on my ’Path’...’

Shaking his head in dismay, Zephyr stared at the pure white flames that were starting to get more and more intense.

’What is going on with this thing? Don’t tell me... is it gonna explode? That can’t be right?...’

As more and more mana started to gather in place, the aura Zephyr started to feel from those flames became insanely stronger, and before he could react, the flames formed a strange flower-like pattern inside the cauldron!

The moment that flower pattern was formed, powerful spatial fluctuations occurred in the center of the cauldron, and a small rift opened in the space-time fabric.

"What in the actual f*ck even is happening here!?"

In front of Zephyr’s shocked eyes, a pitch-black object flew out of the spatial rift.

The object was shaped like an obelisk, but at the base it had a hilt resembling a sword.

Upon closer inspection, the obelisk had pictures of galaxies, black holes, stars, neutron stars, etc. all kinds of celestial objects engraved on it in golden carvings.

The strange object had a certain beauty to it, and for some reason Zephyr couldn’t help but feel attracted to it for some reason, as if that object were something extremely extraordinary and powerful.

Before Zephyr could observe the object more closely, a blinding glow radiated from the pure white flames, and Zephyr was forced to close his eyes as his mind went blank for a second.

Powerful spatial fluctuations spread in the area as Zephyr felt his body become weightless!

...

*CHIRP~* *CHIRP~*

By the time Zephyr opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a solid floor made of stone.

There was a clear blue sky above him, and the sound of birds chirping nearby felt comfortable to his ears.

"Oh, you are finally awake? That’s good."

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Zephyr was startled and sat up from the floor with a jolt, only to feel a sense of burning pain around his wrist.

Zephyr glanced at his wrist and realized that there was a strange flame-shaped tattoo on the back of his hand now that obviously wasn’t there before, and Zephyr even felt that tattoo was shining with a faint silverish glow!

"It seems you managed to complete the trial of being the ’Torchbearer of Hope’; this is good news indeed..."

Hearing that unfamiliar voice again, Zephyr looked up only to see a beautiful young lady with silver hairs sitting on a sofa nearby.

Seeing that face and those silver hairs, Zephyr immediately realized who this woman was.

"Layla Jauregia?"

Hearing this question, the woman smiled kindly and nodded her head and spoke in a pleasant tone.

"Indeed, that’s me. It seems you managed to fully complete the trial and even saw all the memories contained within it; that’s good news."

"This is the first time someone has completed my trial, and I can finally be relieved of the burden of carrying the ’Obelisk’ with me from now on, all thanks to you-"

Before Layla could finish her sentence, a familiar voice suddenly interjected in between.

"I found him and brought him here you know! Indirectly, it’s me who helped you out in the end! Hmph!"

The voice came from another woman who was sitting on a reclining chair nearby and was glaring at Layla with an angry expression that made her look very cute.

Zephyr was familiar with that dark red-haired woman; it was none other than Xinran!

"Yo! We meet again, little Zephy~ You have been gone for so long that I almost thought that you were not going to make it back, but it seems I wasn’t wrong in my evaluation of you after all!!"

With a proud look on her face, Xinran grinned at Zephyr and spoke,

"You have even managed to awaken your mana, and I can sense that your aura and vitality have become even stronger than before. It seems you really made a huge profit this time. I feel kind of jealous of you now, tch~"

"Sigh... well, I tried to do that trial too but couldn’t make it past that second part where the stairs keep looping again and again."

Hearing Xinran’s words, Layla giggled a bit and teased back.

"Haha, I remember that~ I had to nullify the trial and help you leave afterwords in the end as you started crying~"

Hearing those words, Xinran gritted her cute teeth and glared at Layla before saying,

"I was young back then and didn’t even know to use mana properly! If I do it now, I would surely be able to make my way through to the very end without any problems just with my magic alone!"

At those words, Layla shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"No way, the ’Obelisk’ has made a powerful restriction; it only lets people that have only recently awakened mana enter its trial..."

"Although I made the trial, even I can’t disobey the rules set by the ’Obelisk’ itself; at most, I only have ’Trial Moderator’ level authority, but the ’Admin’ authority still rests with the ’Obelisk’ itself..."

Xinran could only click her tongue in resentment after hearing those words.

"How long are you going to sit on the floor now? Come over; I looted this old witch’s personal snack cabinet just a while ago. I will give you some too..."

Hearing those words, Zephyr couldn’t help but shake his head in helplessness and get up to walk over to the two ladies’ side.

As Zephyr sat down on a nearby chair, Xinran handed him some cookies with a cute smile on her face, and Layla nodded her head at him before saying,

"Welcome to my abode, ’Torchbearer’ Zephyr Reid. I sincerely congratulate you on completing the trial. From now on, you are the owner of the ’Obelisk’ I have been protecting my whole life..."

"Take good care of it..."