The quest’s clear notification felt really amazing to hear.
It was as a giant boulder was lifted from their backs, and the trio heaved a relieved sigh.
"Sentient monsters are a pain to deal with." Jackie comnted.
"Agreed." Julien replied.
"It’s probably not the monster that was a problem…" Celeste chid in and said as she looked at the monster’s corpse.
"When it attacked you two, your wounds didn’t heal. That was a strange thing. It otherwise wouldn’t have lost, had the young master’s party not had the young miss’s healing abilities."
"It’s all the lord’s blessings." Alia clasped her hands and said. It truly was god’s blessing this ti around.
"Hm, it also kept licking this slab and gained powers, I believe." Julien’s gaze fell on the stone slab.
"Should we dig into it?" He asked Celeste and his party mbers.
"You can." Celeste suggested. "But be careful, there’s a strong demonic aura coming from there."
Julien nodded and decided to dig.
Jackie helped him in doing so and a few minutes later, they shifted the stone slab from its place and found a skeletal hand within the soil.
The demonic aura was getting stronger.
Julien and Jackie continued to dig, and slowly, they saw more bones.
They soon realized that they were digging soone grave’s, but neither Julien nor Jackie cared about it.
They kept digging until they could see the skull, and then the collarbone, then the ribs, and then…
Julien’s hand touched sothing sharp.
The world around him instantly darkened and he saw an endless world of red that was filled with bones and swords.
It was only for a split second and his vision returned to normal.
[Ding!]
[Obtained an Arcana Card!]
[Auto adding to inventory…]
The sharp feeling vanished from Julien’s fingers and the demonic aura disappeared from the surroundings too.
"Strange…" Alia comnted. "There’s no demonic presence anymore…"
"You’re right." Celeste agreed and looked around, trying to find the reason why the demonic aura disappeared.
She wasn’t near the grave-digging area so she hadn’t seen the glimpse of an Arcana Card being there.
Jackie was close but before she could see the card, it had vanished upon Julien’s touch.
Julien’s system was tuned to automatically adding an Arcana Card to the inventory and hence, the card had disappeared.
Julien was baffled by this and didn’t know systems were this useful here.
He pretended that he found nothing and kept digging the grave until he eventually saw a complete skeleton.
There was a red crystal under the ribcage, where the heart was supposed to be. It’s insides were molded in a flat card’s shape, and Julien didn’t have to guess that the Arcana Card he obtained was previously in this.
"That’s an Arcana Shard." Celeste said with slight surprise. She couldn’t believe that these kids would be able to find an Arcana Shard on such a low level floor.
Julien, Jackie, and Alia were pleasantly surprised too.
Defeating the monster had brought them great benefits, the most important being XP and following of the tribal folks of this floor!
"You can use this shard to upgrade your Arcana Card. Or you can trade it with the Crimson Night Guild for a hefty reward." Celeste offered.
Even though she was acting as a bodyguard, at the end of the day, she was still the Vice Guildmaster of one of the world’s topmost guilds. It was ingrained in her to think about her guild’s interest at all tis.
"We’d like to keep the Arcana Shard. Thank you for your offer, Miss Celeste." Julien rejected her politely.
"A pity." Celeste could do nothing about it.
Julien added this to his inventory too, and surprisingly or unsurprisingly, he now had two Arcana Shards with him.
’All of this is so strange. How in the world am I able to obtain such good things so suddenly? This shouldn’t be possible. I am cursed with bad luck, so sothing bad should happen!’
Julien wasn’t paranoid, but things had been going suspiciously smoothly.
Was there so hidden play going on that he wasn’t aware of?
He had to be careful and check for it.
Julien and his party searched around the chamber to find so more goods, and were eventually able to obtain a Rare Arcana Card from the Jungle Scamp’s body.
This card was called the Sticky Paws. It was a buff item that enhanced gripped strength by tenfolds. It was a passive buff and would be there permanently as long as the person had the card in their slot.
The monster’s hide, fangs and claws were good loot too. They could be used to make an armor or dagger, or could be sold to a guild for a good price.
The three added the loot to their inventories and decided to think about it later.
Their main priority right now was to ascend the floors and since the quest here had been cleared, they could go through the Stairway of Ascendence.
…..
After ascending to Floor 18, Julien and his party decided to take so rest. They were tired from defeating the Jungle Scamp, and wanted so sleep before continuing their journey.
Floor 18 was a valley area situated between lush green mountains. It contained a decent village so the four didn’t have to camp in the wilderness.
There was a rundown inn the village and the four went there to get themselves a room.
They took out at from their inventories and paid it as a price for three rooms.
One was for Celeste, another for Jackie, and the last was for Julien and Alia.
Julien made an excuse stating he had so internal wounds that needed to be healed. Neither Jackie nor Celeste bought the excuse, but they went on with the excuse and didn’t give this couple a hard ti.
Once Julien was in the room with this beautiful blonde priestess, he was at a loss for words.
The two did not speak and the atmosphere was quite awkward.
"Let’s eat sothing." Julien broke the awkward silence and said.
Alia gave him a curt nod and sat on the bed’s edge.
A mild blush could be seen on her face and she was trying her hardest to not show that she was flustered and nervous.
The innkeeper gave them a fruit basket so Julien was now cutting fruits for Alia.
He gave her an apple and while she ate it, he went ahead and checked his newly obtained Arcana Card.
As he summoned it from his inventory, a pink system interface appeared, indicating that it was the Lust system and not his normal one that was appearing.
On the system interface, there was a pitch black card with blood red font sche. It had pulsating veins all around it and seed really eerie and mysterious.
Crimson Requiem (Forbidden)
Effect: The user enters an unstoppable Slaughter Trance. Every wound inflicted does not heal—not by magic, regeneration, or divine intervention. The attacks ignore all forms of defense, and each kill increases the speed, strength, and bloodlust. However, the longer the fight, the harder it becos to stop and the mind risks becoming a vessel for the God of Eternal Slaughter.
’!!!?!?!’
Julien was greatly alard and stopped slicing the apples.
’What the fuck is this!?’
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