Chapter 196: *The Valley of the Mist*
Ian put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek before saying, "With the knowledge of the Drakonits, it’s a piece of cake to do it, and it’s not for nothing that I asked Kevin for a bloodstone. The bloodstones allow us to considerably increase the number of fire, earth, and darkness particles, which are the three most common elements used by demons. And the Teleportation Talisman papers are created thanks to the earth particles; that’s why I wanted to increase the number of them inside our pavilion."
Liam smiled, then took the talisman Ian was handing him. He was looking for a safe place he could teleport them, and luckily it was Sunday; normally, they wouldn’t meet any fighters from the capital’s Academy, who were resting today like everyone else here.
He decided to choose a place where he was sure there were lots of purple dungeons nearby, and he ended up opening the teleportation portal and going through it first with Ian, followed by the others right after.
When they were all on the other side, Liam said, "Welcome to the Valley of the Mist, famous for its cliffs of fire and ice and its purple dungeons."
Kevin was examining this new environment, which seemed very hostile. As Liam had just told them, some cliffs had red flames that sprang up everywhere while others were covered by ice.
Right in front of them, there was a huge ice peak covered with stalactites that pointed to the sky, and every time the fire came in contact with the ice, steam would appear, creating thick fog in some places. He had to admit that this Valley of the Mist was a perfect place to hide and ambush.
However, he was not worried; thanks to Axel’s keen senses and Liam’s even more developed ones, they weren’t likely to make an unexpected encounter. Kevin then said, satisfied, "It’s perfect! So where do we start?"
Ian said to them, "Let me choose!" He then closed his eyes to concentrate, and he detected five purple dungeons close to them. He concentrated on each of them, and for him, two stood out. One seemed to be filled with the darkness element, which meant that there were demon summoners inside, and the other one was filled with the five basic elements... Elementaries, maybe, he thought.
His smile widened; he knew that Liam would be thrilled to hear that and so he said to them, "I found two that are perfect for training... Liam, would you rather start with demon summoners or... Elementaries?"
Liam looked at him, dumbfounded, and asked, "Elementaries? Are you sure?"
Ian then said to him, so he wouldn’t be too disappointed if he was ever wrong, "No, I’m not sure, but I can detect a high concentration of the five basic elements inside one of the purple dungeons. Do you want us to start with that one?"
Liam nodded, and while everyone was following Ian, he explained to them what Elementaries were. They were not ordinary monsters; they had a humanoid form, and each of them could only use one element. It was very easy to recognize their element because their humanoid bodies were the same color as the particles of the element they could use.
In terms of power, the Wind and Earth Elementaries were the weakest and were usually the first ones they had to face. Next, Water and Fire Elementaries were harder to beat, and finally, the dungeon boss was usually a Lightning Elementary.
He explained to them that he had already had the chance to loot three purple dungeons with Elementaries and that he had only once had the privilege of seeing a Lightning Elementary.
And when Kevin asked him why he seemed so excited about looting a dungeon full of Elementaries, he told him that it was because each time they had found a lot of hight grade Nerudium that was already imbued with one of the elements. Each time, the weapons they had made with it had all been of extraordinary power.
Kevin was delighted. Thanks to his perception skill, nothing could escape them, and he hoped that he would be able to copy spells, even if because of his Soul force reserve, he was for the moment limited to spell level 4.
He still remembered that the last time he had tried to copy Alan’s fire spell, ’Imprisonment by Fire,’ which looked like chains made of fire, the system had asked him for 1,200 Soul force points, which he didn’t have at the time.
At least now he could copy spells of level 4 if the opportunity arose, but he wouldn’t bother with the imprisonment spells anymore because his Chains of Restraint were much more effective than any spell.
When Ian finally stopped, the six of them were inside one of these thick fogs, but despite the fog, the purple vortex that signaled the entrance to the dungeon was more than visible. It was huge, even bigger than the one they had already looted, and it was right between a cliff of fire and a cliff of ice.
Kevin immediately received a notification and read it out loud for all to hear.
[ OPTIONAL QUEST ]
Warning: the dungeon will close in 2 days, 16 hours, 36 minutes, and 02 seconds.
Make a team and kill the dungeon boss.
- Reward 1: 30 Stat points
- Reward 2: 100,000 gold coins
- Reward 3: Legendary grade box × 1
Liam had no idea what a legendary grade box was, as Xander had never been able to open that book, and he was sure that the first thing he had tried to do to open it was to make a blood pact with it.
Now that Liam was aware that gods might be involved, perhaps one of them had not wanted Xander to be able to use this power, or perhaps even if he was the bearer of the Pentagram Mark, he was just too weak to be able to make a blood pact with a divine artifact.
This solution was probably the right one because Kevin’s potential compared to Xander’s was far greater. In any case, the 100,000 gold coins was already a very attractive reward, so he took out his saber filled with lightning particles, and when he saw that everyone was equipped except Ian, he asked him with a frown, "Ian, don’t you take any weapons with you?"
Ian chuckled and said, before walking through the purple vortex, "No need."
Liam immediately followed him with a beaming smile on his face. He liked this new version of Ian more and more; he was so damn sexy. The others followed right after, and they arrived in a large room that had a cathedral ceiling covered with stalactites, and the walls were also covered with ice.
