In the end practicality won out. “Does Compass of Desire respond to my thoughts?” I asked.
“It is a divination type skill. It is a bit difficult to use. But it will see you to what you want. But it can get confused the more complicated your desire. The simpler the desire, the better the skill works. It will allow you to get back to your ho and find things that you wish to find. An incredibly powerful divination skill and one of the better ones. Is that your choice?”
It wasn’t the best choice. But it was a practical and useful choice. I could spend years with no way to get ho and die of starvation. Becoming a lost soul in this part of the dungeon like Illian.
I could also ask that skill to lead to where I could learn the other two. While the other two had no chance of teaching the other offered skills. That was why I felt like it was the best pick out of the three. It helped right away, while also offering long term benefits that were versatile.
“Yes, that is my choice. But before we leave this place, can you tell about your people or this Great War?” I asked.
“It is not my place to say. Ti has moved on. So things are best left forgotten. But I can sense your curiosity. There once was a Great Evil. The Seraphim fought against it and its minions. We erged victorious at great cost, including my life,” she said.
“My condolences,” I replied.
“It was my choice. A necessary choice. But now the last remnant of is almost gone. The world that once was, no longer is. This continent carries the scars of the Great War from long ago and the minions of the Great Evil. Ti changes all and it has been a long ti. The living change, the dead do not.”
“What is at the bottom of the depths?” I asked the question everyone wanted to know.
“Dangerous knowledge. Knowledge that only those with strength deserve to possess. If you possess the strength, then you can go and find that knowledge. But knowing will do you no good without the strength to truly understand.”
“I am guessing you will say sothing similar to my other questions,” I said and Intrepid Spirit smiled at .
“Indeed. Our ti now cos to an end Young Justin. Before I give you the two skills, I will impart one last piece of advice. If you ever et another Seraphim nad Glorious Light, let him know that his poetry could use so work in its evocative imagery,” she said.
“I will rember that,” I replied while committing those words to mory.
“Then I wish you luck in your quest,” she said. I was about to thank her, but she was suddenly in front of . Her hand shot out and dove into my head.
Everything spun.
I stumbled back from the corpse in front of , back in the chamber under the tomb room. “Are you okay?” Lanner gasped out.
I didn’t answer as I felt two new skills settle onto my soul.
Tier 3: Compass Of Desire
Tier 7: Seraphim Quest(C)
The Compass Of Desire was weird. It was different from any other skill I had gotten. It felt more elusive, like oil on top of water. Constantly shifting, but still grouped together.
The curse skill Seraphim Quest was like a chain strapped to my heart. I knew that if I didn’t destroy the blade in front of , I would die a horrible death with absolute certainty. A tier 7 curse, there was no chance of ever breaking that. Not even in my wildest dreams.
And the person who had created it was already dead. The sheer power of the Seraphim was imnse. I wouldn’t be ignoring the book my father had given after this. I looked down at Intrepid Spirit’s corpse. Her hands had unclenched from the blade’s hilt.
Her corpse seed lesser. The Mana that had covered her body was no longer present. I reached out for the longsword. I grabbed it’s sheathe just below the hilt and lifted it. It was a struggle. The blade was insanely heavy. I reached out with a second hand to help lift it up.
I lifted it off her corpse. I noted a tiny gold string made of Mana wrapped around the hilt and the sheathe. Sothing to stop the blade from falling out or being casually drawn. I put a hand on the hilt and the blade didn’t budge.
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The sheathe was so kind of tal I had no clue about. The Mana coming from the blade was a large amount. The ground shook slightly and my Danger Sense began to rapidly increase.
“We need to leave, quickly,” I said. The cursed skill tugged in one direction and my desire to leave the dungeon had my other new skill tug in a different direction. As we exited the tunnel we had made, my Danger Sense was growing.
The tomb remained closed. That ant monsters were moving towards us. The dungeon was annoyed at this sword. “Monsters from the tunnels,” I called out. Ozy was sealing up the tunnel’s hole.
While tempting to try and take Intrepid Spirit’s corpse and clothing, I didn’t dare. After what I had just experienced, the danger of offending another Seraphim was too great to whatever I might have gotten.
I tried to put the cursed longsword into my spatial pouch, but it didn’t go in. “Dammit,” I cursed and put it on the ground and drew my Reforged Beginner’s Blade. It felt a bit shabby with a tier 7 weapon laying on the ground next to my feet.
The monsters were almost upon us from the tunnels. I had been prepared for sothing like this. In case the tomb opened and the surrounding area flooded with Mana. I hadn’t been expecting it was all from the sword, which I now had to destroy.
I activated the traps. The tunnels filled with fire and the screams of the monsters as they were incinerated. The battle had been won, but we needed to get to the higher levels as quickly as possible otherwise, we would be overrun eventually by the monsters.
“What happened in there?” Lanner asked as the traps ended and the monsters had all been wiped out. “You touched the woman and then stumbled back.”
“Instantly?” I asked in surprise and then confird with my Temporal Sense. He was right.
“Yes,” Lanner said.
I explained what had occurred. I left out the fact that I had been given the choice of a skill. That would just create resentnt and drama. Instead indicated I had been forced to take up this quest and had been cursed to complete it.
I felt a bit bad about lying, but I knew if I said I got a super rare and amazing skill there would be jealousy. While it was my right as the team leader, I knew how this kind of thing would go. When soone got sothing that others didn’t have, it would build resentnt. We couldn’t afford that at the mont.
Completing this quest quickly was the priority. I felt Compass of Desire shift in the sa direction as Seraphim Quest. Like a gentle tug pointing in a certain direction. Thinking of the nearest exit passage and how I wanted to leave quickly shifted the Compass of Desire.
I thought of the Eldarin continent and ho. The Compass of Desire was much slower to adjust and seed to move aimlessly for a while before finally settling on a direction. It was clear more complicated desires were more difficult to pinpoint.
Focusing on the nearest natural treasure, caused the skill to just spin about without a clear direction. That was annoying, but not surprising, since the dungeon was constantly changing. The skill didn’t lock the dungeon in place, but guided . I had no idea how it would get back to the Eldarin continent, but the fact that it could was a huge relief.
I hadn’t picked a bad skill, and Intrepid Spirit hadn’t lied to . Also, the skill was only level 1. As it improved, it might be able to pick up on more difficult requests more quickly.
My mind went back to the new choice I had. Leaving the dungeon quickly would get to the surface, but not in a location near this forge and machine I needed to find. While the direction through the dungeon was the quickest route to the nearest passage that was closest to the forge on the surface.
I needed a passage to the surface that no one was near. This forge was probably an important location and there was a strong possibility there would be a demon sowhere nearby.
While moving on the surface would make the sword a beacon, at least I could leave it behind sowhere and check the situation first. I couldn’t leave the sword in the dungeon and return to it.
I would be fine as long as the sword wasn’t drawn from its sheath. That was the trigger for the curse skill on . Hiding it away in so hole was the best option while I took my ti locating this forge.
Heck, I could hide the sword and then co back for it later on. While Seraphim Intrepid Spirit had made the quest seem urgent, I wasn’t overly concerned. As long as I buried it on the surface and used runic circles to contain the Mana, it would be fine.
I could co back a decade from now without issue. The exit from the dungeon I had created seed like the best option. I could hide the sword in the mountains away from the entrance to the dungeon that was in the White Waste.
Then I could take Lanner to the Eldarin continent and wouldn’t be responsible for him anymore. While I liked the gno, it would be nice to move at my own pace without having to worry about him.
And destroying the sword would be incredibly difficult. It was like a beacon of Mana. Anyone sensitive to Mana would be able to spot it. That ant demons would be attracted to it for sure, just like all these monsters.
I picked up the cursed longsword. It was heavy, very heavy. I was definitely going to gain a stat point or two in strength from just carrying it about. Even if I couldn’t use it as a blade, I could swing it like a club and crush weaker monsters with it.
“This way,” I said, and we began to move towards a tunnel. The blade was only triggering monsters from nearby chambers, not two chambers like the war ch had. That was a small rcy. If it triggered that many monsters, this would beco much more difficult.
I set the cursed longsword down to the side in the tunnel the mont my Danger Sense began to grow. I pulled out my blade and began preparing for the wave of monsters to charge at us.
“Get ready for a large wave of monsters,” I said as I completed the runic circle. The monsters reached the entrance of the tunnel. Flas shot forward, helped by Ozy. The monsters were burnt to a crisp.
That used up half my Mana. I needed to rest a bit before we continued. While I wanted to hurry to the surface to hide the cursed longsword, rushing would only invite trouble. I couldn’t afford to get overwheld and had to take things chamber by chamber.
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