Eternal Empire Online: The Rise of the Mythical Detective

Chapter 12: The Sage, The Demon, And The Legend 2

“Hello! Is there anyone here?”

Grimm knocked while calling out loudly in front of the house and after a moment, an elderly man opened the door.

The Oldman looked at him and said, “It’s been a while since anyone visited my house. Yes, how may I help you?”

Grimm, thinking that this might be the Old Hermit that he was looking for, continued. “I came here to find someone.”

“I have been living in this place for quite a while now and aside from an old acquaintance that visits me from time to time, I have never met any other human.”

He must be referring about Bart.

“Anyway, who did you came looking for?”

Grimm pulled out the book from his bag and presented it towards the old fellow. “I came here looking for the owner of this book.”

The Oldman’s eyes lit up with unmasked joy as he reaches out for the book. Stroking the cover, he nodded and said. “Yes, I am the owner of this book. You found him correctly.”

Ting!

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QUEST COMPLETED: THE STOLEN BOOK OF MONSTERS

Fame has risen by 100 points (+100FAME) 

Your Intimacy with the Old Hermit had risen.

Your Level has risen 

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Grimm exhaled in relief after handing to him the book. Finally, after all the unfathomable hardships of searching through forest and defeating the Wolf Duo just to get here. At long last, his mission is fulfilled.

“Thanks you so much, young man.” The Old Hermit said, tucking the book against his chest. He then moved away from the front door and made a welcoming gesture. “Please, come in. I was just about to have dinner and I would be grateful if you’ll join me.”

“I would love that,” he accepted without hesitation.

To be honest, his reaction towards the completion of this quest is similar to when he received the reward for the Essence of the Night King quest. He found the quest completion to be too anticlimactic that he immediately entertained the thought that there’s still something else to be done in order for the quest to genuinely reward him and he believes that the Old Hermit’s dinner invitation is the start of it.

When Grimm entered, he immediately surveyed the house’s interiors. One wall was filled with shelves full of books and scrolls while the other is plastered with maps and several notes. There’s a fireplace which is currently boiling a cauldron and a small table enough for 4 people. The floor is the bare ground and some firewood is stacked at one corner.

Gulp, gulp.

“This porridge is really delicious.” Grimm complemented after tasting the dish that the Old Hermit, who had introduced himself as Stellio, serves.

“Thank you,” Stellio replied without looking at him. His attention is completely glued on turning the pages of the book Grimm had just returned.

“That book seems important to you.”

“Yes it is,” Stellio said, finally raising his head. “It was a gift given to me by an old friend during my younger days.”

Grimm nodded. Now he understands.

“By the way, I haven’t thanked you properly yet. I’m sure it had caused you a lot of trouble travelling all the way here just to return back this book. So if there’s something that I can help you about, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

And not hesitating he did. Grimm pulled out the fragments from his bag and presented to Stellio the requirements of his current task.

However, the Old Hermit shook his head. “I’m sorry, young man. But I am no Soulstone Artisan. I could not help you with that.”

“Oh, I see,” Grimm said with a brokenhearted expression as he returns the fragments back to his bag.

Stellio, perhaps feeling guilty that he was unable to assist him, offers something else to cheer him up.

“I can tell by the sword you’re carrying that you’re quite a skilled swordsman,” he said as he approach and open the rectangular wooden chest box beside the fireplace.

“Well, I’m still learning.”

“Hehehe, then I hope this will help.” Stellio said, presenting a sword shaped very much like a large meat cleaver.

A Falchion.

Ding!

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New Item Alert: [Cleaver Falchion]

A one-handed sword imbued with an overwhelming desire to cut.

Type: One-Handed Sword

Durability: 40/40

Attack: 35~60

Restriction: Level 60

Equipped: (+60%) Enhanced Sword Attack Damage, (+5%) Chance to inflict Bleed, (+10%) Critical Attack Rate

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“Having this in your possession will surely increase your combat capabilities.”

“True, but I think it would be inconvenient to switch between two swords.”

“Switch? Why switch if you can wield them both. Here, let me show you how.” Stellio pulled another sword from the wooden chest box and show Grimm how to wield 2 one-handed weapons at the same time.

Ding!

______________________________

New Skill Alert: Dual Wield

Dual Wield [Passive: Beginner Level 1(0.00%)]

An advance weapon wielding practice that enables you to use two single-handed weapons at the same time.

Warning: Learning this Skill will forever disallow you from equipping Shields or to accept Professions that utilizes the usage of Shields.

Do you wish to learn this Skill? 

[YES] [NO] 

______________________________

Of course, Grimm accepted.

______________________________

New Skill Acquired

Dual Wield [Passive: Beginner Level 1(0.00%)] (+20%) Increase in Attack Damage

(+1%) Increase in Critical Attack Rate

(+20%) Increase in Critical Attack

Agility will increase by 1 point (+1AGI)

(+10%) Increase in Dodge and Hit

______________________________

After all, he has no plan of becoming a slowpoke Knight or a self-righteous Paladin. So there’s no reason to refuse such highly convenient skill.

And right after learning the Dual Wield, Stellio handed to him his gift.

______________________________

You acquired [Cleaver Falchion]

______________________________

“Open Gears!”

______________________________

Headgear: –

Necklace: Wolf Fang Necklace [+5 Agility, +5% Recovery Rate, +10% Additional Damage against Feline Creatures, Active Wild Aura]

Shoulder: –

Armor: Legion Armor [Defense +15]

Left Hand: Cleaver Falchion [Attack +35~60] [+60% Enhanced Sword Attack Damage, +5% Chance to inflict Bleed, +10% Critical Attack Rate]

Right Hand: Right Hand: Gladiator Blade [Attack +30~42] [+10 Strength, +5 Dexterity, +10% Magic Attack, Increases sword attack damage and speed by 10%.]

Gloves: Midnight Paws [Defense +8] [+10% Recovery Rate, +20% Earth Resistance, +50% Strength under the   Moonlight]

Belt: –

Leggings: Wanderer Pants [Defense +12] [+10% Poison Resistance]

Footgear: Paws of the Cat [Defense +5] [+10% Movement Speed on Unstable Grounds, +50% Vertical Jump, +40% Falling Resistance]

Accessories: Dusk Ring [+10 Agility, +30% Darkness Resistance, +30% Blind Resistance, +50% Agility in the Darkness]

______________________________

Growth is always a satisfying experience. And once again, he had gained a new weapon with a new ability that can magnify its potential. With elation, Grimm rise and took both blades and started trying out swordplays against an imaginary opponent.

Stellio who was watching him from a corner had a satisfied shine on his eyes.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

“Hey, hurry up and collect those data! And don’t you dare miss a single thing!” Cedric Lowe pulled his hair and shouted.

“Yes sir!”

At that time, the Game Development Department of Jenova Corp. is in a huge uproar. For a week now, the entire department via the direct order of the President had been monitoring the movements of the Gaia Memory’s Phenomenon Program, The Trickster. Unfortunately, like what always happen whenever he resurfaced, his presence keeps appearing and disappearing from their system surveillance, making it almost impossible for them to effectively track him.

However, just a couple of hours ago, the then quiet Main System began processing a large amount of data and all of them are stirring directly towards core program of the Trickster.

“What is going on?” Cedric looked at the monitor with reddish eyes.

He had been pursuing The Trickster for more than a year now ever since his emergence just right after the activation of Eternal Empire but this is first time that something like this had occurred.

______________________________

-The [JOKES] Program has completed the necessary data for Phase 2-

Loading…….

SUCCESS

-Initiating Phase 2-

______________________________

“What the…Phase 2?” Cedric’s trembling lips mumbled. ‘How the hell did this happen?’

Gaia Memory, the A.I. that controls the system of Eternal Empire is capable of processing millions of encryption patterns per minute that creates an impenetrable security for all the programs of the game. Due to this, aside from the activities activated by the users logged in through the Simulation Capsules, any other means of outside interventions are completely impossible. An absolute rule that applies even to them that directly monitors the game’s mainframe.

So if that were the case, then it only means one thing. Among the users, someone had managed to accomplish a fret created by the elusive Trickster that resulted into the initiation of the Second Phase.

‘This is huge development. But damn! How am I supposed explain this to the President?’ Cedric moaned and beat at this desk.

At the same time, he stared helplessly at the monitor as Gaia completes the data loading.

______________________________

-The [JOKES] Program has entered Phase 2-

______________________________

Cedric felt like he was being tormented by Gaia. Then one of his staff who had been looking for information through the movement of the data shouted.

“Sir, I’ve found it!”

“Huh? What? What did you found?” Cedric stuttered.

“The place where Gaia and the Trickster Program is pouring in all the new data.”

“Where?”

“Here, I’ll send the location to your unit.”

The staff operated his computer and a few seconds later, the World Map of Avelot appeared on Cedric’s monitor where a pulsing red dot is indicating the location of the event.

The Head of the Game Development Department smiled. Sure, the sudden surge of new data within the system had caused a lot of headache to him and his people but at the same time due to its mass, Gaia had completely bare the location of the Trickster. With that information, Cedric immediately called the President of Jenova Corp. “President Armstrong?”

“Yes?”

“We’ve found the Trickster.”

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

“What happened here?” Grimm looked around the vicinity of the forest with tense eyes.

Last time, after meeting Stellio and completing his quests, he decided that since he no longer has anything else important to do aside from waiting for the next session with Bart, he exited the game to take some break from his gaming life.

However, when he logged in to attend the Fifth Training, he was shock when the Forest of Illusion that welcomes him was totally different from the ones he’d just left a few hours ago.

Far from the rich and brilliant greenery that had nurtured him, the area is now veiled in pitch black darkness where even though it’s daytime, the atmosphere surrounding him is no different from a moonless night.

Ding!

______________________________

You have entered the influence area of the mysterious magic [Black Mist]

All non-Darkness Attribute within the influenced area will have their Stats and Range of Vision reduced by 20%. 

Effectivity of Light Attribute Spells, Skills, and Equipment will be reduced by 50%. 

______________________________

[Dark Shackles] has been activated by an unknown source.

The souls of the users within the vicinity of the Black Mist are now captured by the caster of the Dark Shackles. Users whose soul has been captured will have their resurrection point forcibly changed into their current area within the Black Mist. In addition, users are unable logout from the game or to exit the area influenced by the Dark Shackles as long as the caster lives.

______________________________

Grimm’s confusion deepened even further upon the emergence of the two notification windows.

‘What is this?’

For a brief moment, Grimm entertained the idea that the magic behind the Black Mist might be caused by a rare occurrence that sometimes transpired in the forest, an event similar to an eclipse or a skypunch. After all, this is a game where magic and the impossible could exist, so that’s highly likely. However, Grimm immediately dismisses those thoughts due to the following reasons.

First, during their lessons, Bart had imparted to them everything that they needed to know about the Forest of Illusion. Starting from the topography, to the inhabitants, down to every natural phenomenon that might occur within its vicinity, but never once he had ever mentioned about the existence of the Black Mist. Bart was very thorough, so it’s very unlikely that he’d missed something.

And second and most importantly, the idea of the Black Mist being a magic of natural cause can only be acceptable if it had occurred alone, therefore, the accompanying presence of the Dark Shackles had instantly shattered that possibility. There’s no way that a restraining magic of this scale can be created by Mother Nature. Moreover, the description of the Dark Shackles states that it was casted, which means that it’s a spell activated by living being, a Magic user to be exact.

‘If that’s the case then what the hell is going on? And who could have done this?’

Grimm was thinking that when something interrupted him.

“Eek, g-go away! Aaack!”

He suddenly heard the sounds of someone being attacked from nearby.

Setting aside those thoughts for now, Grimm quietly moved towards the direction of the sound.

‘Hey, isn’t that….?’

When Grimm arrived at the source, he discovered that the person who was in peril was Gambit and he is surrounded by three black humanoid creatures with rotting flesh and twisted facial features.

Grimm examined the monsters using his Eyes of Knowing.

______________________________

Name: Ghouls

Race: Undead

Level: 60

Attribute: Dark

Health: 7,000

Mana: 0

______________________________

The three creatures were the undead Ghouls. And though they are easy to handle level 60 monsters, in the eyes of the Level 34 Gambit, these three are totally out of his league.

Grimm immediately used Stealth, approached the Ghouls from behind, and then unleashes dozens of quickly released slashes directly towards their weak points.

SLASH! s***h! s***h!

______________________________

+You dealt a Critical Damage x (13). 

+You dealt a Critical Damage x (12). 

+You dealt a Critical Damage x (12).

______________________________

Splashes of rotten flesh and snapping of brittles bones boomed throughout the Ghouls’ bodies at the barrage of Grimm’s swords. It was his specialty, dealing continuous and escalating critical damages.

So just in a matter of 10 seconds, the three Ghouls were instantly turned into minced meat without even realizing what had hit them.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Yes, thanks to you. Thank you.” Gambit nodded while sighing in relief. However, when he lifted his head and recognize the identity of the one that rescued him, he immediately made a mix expression of shock and disbelief. “G-Gr-Grimm!?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Bu-bu-but how?” He asked, glancing back and forth between Grimm and the remains of the obliterated Ghouls.

“I have no time to explain,” Grimm said. “Do you know what the hell is going on?”

Gambit shuddered, like the question had triggered him to remember a horrible memory. “Master Bart…the training ground…the others.”

“What? What do you mean? What happened to Bart and the others?”