Jason stepped out of the crystal cave, eyes narrowing as he adjusted to the shadows of the abyss.
Shadows stretched before him, thick and waiting.
He felt like he'd just gone ten rounds with a cement mixer.
His body ached with pain, and his HP was still in the red, but the rush of victory and the heavy promise of fresh loot in his pack made every wound worth it.
He had just learned the [Parry] skill, a game-changer for any swordsman.
He climbed out of the abyss, this time taking the winding path he'd spotted before. Each step was careful, every breath tight with tension, the silence pressing in like a threat.
He spotted Jay Antonio on the ledge, pacing back and forth, eyes wide with worry.
The same spot where Jason had left him.
"You're alive!" Jay exclaimed, rushing over.
"I was about to hold a memorial service! I was going to say a few nice words, loot your corpse, you know, the usual."
Jason chuckled, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
"Relax, I just had a friendly chat with the locals."
" They even gave me parting gifts." He showed Jay the massive greataxe.
Jay's jaw dropped.
"Dude… is that a Bronze-rank, Level 5 greataxe?"
"The one and only," Jason confirmed.
I'm sending it to that Warrior I met, Solitary Ronin.
Building connections is just as important as leveling.
He sent the axe off in a flash, and barely a moment later, a message came back, bursting with stunned thanks and a promise to repay the favor, no matter the cost.
A seed of an alliance had been planted.
With their bags full, they decided to head back to Crimsonwood Village.
As they followed the last winding tunnel out of the Crimson Star Mine, they suddenly stepped into a passage Jason didn't recognize, one that hadn't been on any map he'd seen.
It felt wrong.
Hidden.
Forgotten.
The walls here weren't jagged stone, they were lined with dull, tarnished brass and rows of silent vacuum tubes, like the inside of some ancient machine long forgotten.
Thick cables, each as wide as a man's arm, twisted across the ceiling like metal serpents.
It was an old, forgotten Gnomish passage.
At the heart of the tunnel loomed a strange, otherworldly machine, its shape unfamiliar, its purpose unclear.
It looked like a towering mannequin of brass and copper, eight feet tall, with long, thin limbs and one large, unblinking glass eye that stared straight ahead.
It didn't move, but a faint, steady hum pulsed from deep within its core, like it was waiting to wake up.
[Rogue Clockwork Sentinel - Level 7 Special Elite]
HP: 3,000/3,000
"Okay, that's new," Jay whispered, hiding behind a large gear.
"It's not moving. Maybe it's just a fancy scarecrow?"
"Special Elites are never just scarecrows," Jason warned, his eyes scanning the machine.
It's clearly meant to follow a set patrol pattern, but from the way it's moving, its logic core must be fried.
Like a puppet with cut strings, it's glitching through its routine.
It's asleep, but if we get too close…
Right on cue, the Sentinel's glass eye snapped to life, swiveling with a sharp click as a beam of red light sliced through the tunnel, sweeping side to side like a hunter searching for prey.
The beam passed right over their hiding spot.
"We have to get past it to leave," Jason said.
"We can try to sneak past when its scanner is facing the other way, or… we can dismantle it for parts."
He said the last part with a hungry grin.
Special Elites meant special loot.
Jay sighed.
I knew you were going to say that.
Fine.
Let's dance with the tin man.
Their plan was simple, Jay would start with a long-range spell to get its attention, and Jason would charge in to engage it in melee.
The tight corridor would limit the Sentinel's movement.
Jay launched a [Dark Arrow].
The bolt of shadow magic slammed into the Sentinel's chest.
-18
The Sentinel's glass eye flared to life, glowing with an intense crimson light.
VREEEEEE! A piercing siren noise filled the tunnel as the machine activated.
Its limbs sprang open with unnatural speed, and a hidden panel in its chest slid back, revealing a spinning coil, humming, crackling, and alive with energy.
It didn't move.
Instead, it raised an arm, and a volley of superheated ball bearings shot out like machine-gun fire.
TR-TR-TR-TR-TR-TR-TR!
The brass walls behind Jason were peppered with glowing-hot holes.
Jason, however, was already a blur of motion.
The ground cracked under his feet as he used [Zephyr Strike], not to attack, but to close the distance in a single, impossibly fast dash that left a trail of shrieking wind in his wake.
He arrived right in front of the Sentinel and thrust his sword forward.
CLANG!
His sword struck the brass plating, the impact creating a shower of sparks.
-9
The Sentinel's defense was tougher than the Geode Golem's! Before Jason could land another blow, the coil in its chest flared, unleashing a blast of raw energy.
BZZZZZZT!
A field of crackling electricity erupted outwards in a five-meter radius.
Jason was caught at point-blank range.
A surge of searing pain tore through him as blue lightning crackled across his body, twisting like living fire.
-75
His body convulsed as the blast hurled him backward, limbs jerking uncontrollably.
The damage was immense!
"Jason!" Jay yelled, unleashing an [Evil Whip] that latched onto the Sentinel's leg, momentarily slowing its movements.
Jason recovered, his mind racing.
He couldn't fight this thing head-on.
Its ranged attacks were deadly, and its close-range electric field was suicide to stand in.
He needed a new approach.
"Jay, keep it distracted! Aim for its eye!" Jason shouted as he popped a health potion.
As Jay peppered the Sentinel with spells, drawing its fire, Jason circled around the machine, staying just outside the range of its electric burst.
He saw it then, a series of exposed, glowing power conduits running down its back.
Its weak point!
The Sentinel, distracted by Jay, began to rotate its torso to fire at him.
This was Jason's chance.
BOOM!
He exploded into motion again.
The wind howled as he rushed the Sentinel's back.
He sprang forward, slammed a foot onto its lower frame, and launched himself into the air, fast and fierce like a bullet off the mark.
He was airborne, his sword held in a reverse grip, aimed straight for the conduits.
He plunged the blade down with all his might.
CRRRR-UNCH!
The sound of shattering glass and short-circuiting machinery was deafening.
Blue energy arced wildly from the wound.
A massive damage number appeared above the Sentinel's head.
-450! (Critical Hit! Weak Point Damage!)
The Sentinel unleashed a shriek of broken static, a sound like metal tearing through a storm.
Its movements turned chaotic, limbs thrashing in every direction like a machine losing its mind.
But it wasn't dead.
It whirled in place, its electric field surging out of control in wild, flickering waves.
Jason hit the ground and dove aside, just in time to dodge the crackling arcs of deadly energy that tore through the air behind him.
The battle had just gotten more dangerous.
"It's going berserk!" Jay shouted.
"Just hit it with everything you've got!"
For the next minute, the tunnel exploded with chaos, flashes of dark magic, crackling bolts of lightning, and the gleaming blur of Jason's sword slicing through the storm.
Jason moved like a shadow at the edge of the electric field, darting in to hit the weak spot each time the Sentinel turned, then vanishing before the next surge could catch him.
Finally, with one last, desperate [Thunderclap Slash] that connected with its damaged back, the Rogue Clockwork Sentinel seized up.
The light in its eye flickered and died.
With a final hiss of steam and a low, grinding groan, it lurched forward and crashed to the ground, a lifeless heap of sparking, broken metal.
[System: You have defeated the Rogue Clockwork Sentinel. Gained 1,100 EXP.]
A golden light surrounded Jason.
He had reached Level 5.
He immediately put his four new attribute points into Agility, finally reaching the magic number: 25.
[System: Your Agility has reached 25 points. You have unlocked the Hidden Passive Skill: Fleetfoot.]
[Fleetfoot]: Your movement is as light as a feather.
You no longer produce sound when walking or running.
Increases evasion against ranged attacks by 5%.
This was it! A skill that granted silent movement.
For a player who relied on stealth and positioning, this was a god-tier ability.
Among the scrap metal and copper wires the Sentinel dropped, a single item glowed with a faint, purple light.
Jason picked it up.
It was a small, cube-shaped device.
[Damaged Gnomish Datacore (Quest Item)]
[Quest Triggered: A Glimmer of Genius]
[Quest Details: This datacore contains fragmented knowledge from a forgotten age.
Find a Gnomish terminal to access its secrets.
Beware: accessing damaged Gnomish tech can have... unpredictable consequences.]
[Failure Penalty: Intelligence Overload. All attributes permanently reduced by -10.]
A permanent stat reduction! This was the kind of high-risk, high-reward quest Jason lived for.
He remembered a hidden Gnomish workshop from his past life, not far from their location.
Following his memory, he led Jay through a hidden passage behind a loose brass plate.
They stepped into a vast, dome-like chamber, huge, echoing, and shrouded in shadows.
In the center, a single beam of light poured down onto a pedestal, where a flickering hologram hovered, a sharp-eyed old Gnome with a towering white mustache, glowing like a ghost from the past.
The Gnome hologram's eyes opened.
"Intruders! You dare disturb the archives of the Sky-Hold? You shall face the guardians!"
[Quest Updated: The Elder's Trial]
[Objective: Survive the onslaught of the Specter Guardians.]
The chamber sealed shut.
From the wall, Ghostly warriors armed with spears and shields began to materialize from the walls, slipping into reality like silent wraiths ready for battle.
There were hundreds of them!
"You have got to be kidding me!" Jay shrieked.
"Get to the doorway! Don't let them surround us!" Jason ordered, already positioning himself in the narrow tunnel they'd come from.
It was a perfect choke point.
The Specter Guardians, all Level 4, could only come at them two at a time.
The battle that followed was a strenuous test of endurance.
Jason, with his new [Parry] skill and incredible speed, became an unbreakable wall.
He would block, dodge, and weave, holding the line while Jay unleashed [Hellfire Rain] and [Dark Arrow] into the packed ranks of ghosts.
Skill levels climbed, XP flowed in bit by bit, and for nearly two hours, they fought without pause,tireless, ruthless, and locked in the grind.
Finally, the last Specter Guardian dissipated into smoke.
The Gnome Elder's hologram reappeared, its expression one of shock.
Impossible...
you have passed the trial.
As is your right, you may claim one artifact from the vault.
A single, ornate, Fine-Gold Treasure Chest materialized before them.
Jason's hands trembled slightly as he opened it.
Inside, nestled on a bed of velvet, lay a sword.
It was pitch black, seeming to devour the light around it.
A faint, corrupting aura pulsed from the blade.
[Abyssal Blade (Magic Weapon)]
He also found a title token.
Title: Might of a Thousand]: All allies within a 30-yard radius gain a 10% boost to all attributes.
The user gains +5 Strength and +5 Endurance.
Jason equipped the title instantly.
But the sword… he hesitated.
This was the legendary weapon he'd read about.
A weapon of immense power, but with a terrible curse.
For now, he decided to keep it in his bag.
It was a trump card he wasn't ready to play just yet.