Chapter 23: Victory Rewards
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The vessel of the Unending Crimson shattered into pieces as his presence was fully exorcized from the entire dungeon the moment the being they were using as an avatar of sorts finally died.
The battle was intense, and the two of them were about to die many times, yet through their teamwork, they were able to prevail.
However, deep down, Paul couldn't help but think that if the vessel had charged at them when they were fighting the skeletons, the outcome could have been much different.
He quickly realized that whatever this Outer One entity was, it probably had some sort of code; he didn't know if it was truly a code of honor or something, but it followed something.
Perhaps this time it was a test, and they weren't even serious; maybe they just wanted to have fun, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness.
Why would a being as destructive as that want an honorable battle?
The only thing he could think about was that it was probably testing them and having fun without taking anything seriously at all.
But... did that even matter right now?
The two of them won, and that was all of it!
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully defeated the possessed Dungeon Boss and stopped the Raid of {The Unending Crimson} from happening on Elderbridge!]
[The Special World Event: {Invasion of the Outer Ones} has progressed to its next stage.]
[For defeating the Vessel of {The Unending Crimson}, you will receive the following rewards: [Refinement Elixir (S Grade)] x10 [Skill Book: Dual Blazing Blade Arts (S Grade)] x1 [Random Skill Book (A Grade)] x1 [High Arcana Potion (A Grade)] x20 [High Health Potion (A Grade)] x20 [Antidote Potion (A Grade)] x10 [Unending Crimson Raid-Themed Equipment Treasure Chest (S Grade)] x1]
[All Rewards have been automatically stored inside your Inventory.]
"Damn…"
Paul glanced at the rewards and couldn't help but feel surprised; they were very generous! What they had defeated might have truly escalated into a national crisis altogether.
And the best part was that he didn't even have to rely on his Heavenly Demon transformation; he and Chris defeated him fair and square with no cheat-like traits.
Well, as long as their ridiculous equipment couldn't be called "unfair" because it was certainly too strong for what Players at their levels usually wore.
Even then, Paul felt his armor's Durability rather weak; small cracks could be seen spreading through his entire set; the Durability had gone below 5.000.
Definitely, without this amazing armor, he would have already died; he had to quickly get back home and repair its Durability back to full.
Thankfully, he had read he could easily learn a Repair Skill after learning Crafting, so he just had to try, and he could obtain it.
Yet, setting aside all of that,
"WE DID IT!"
Chris rushed down towards Vlad, hugging him tightly as the two jumped, celebrating.
Paul couldn't help but feel slightly shocked that he did this; the cute incubus, who was already so adorable and sexy, suddenly hugged him!
His tender face was rubbing itself on his chest as he cried happily.
"Holy shit! I thought I would die! Are you okay?! You still look shocked about everything, haha!" Chris quickly laughed at Paul's face, which had only become redder. It was much more noticeable when he was a pale-skinned vampire.
"A-Ahhh, well, yeah." Vlad sighed.
He was trying to keep himself from hugging him back, which was something he really wanted to do. Chris was almost irresistible at this point; his charm stat was already too high, and Incubus were very androgynous, looking like short-haired and flat-chested girls most of the time.
However, he still had the slender and slightly wide body shape of a male; quite clearly, his wider shoulders and his hips, which were not as wide as females, were still very noticeable, and as his strength stat increased, Vlad noticed that the exposed belly of Chris' avatar was becoming slightly more toned.
Somehow, he didn't want to admit it, but the more he started to like Chris, the more his own anxiety would trigger when he got too close.
"What's gotten to you? Relax dude!" Chris laughed, slapping Paul's back and laughing. "Come on, we have a lot of stuff to loot! Paul?"
Chris looked at Paul, who was still a bit frozen.
"Ahem, y-yeah… Alright, let's get to it! D-Did you receive the rewards?" He stuttered a bit as he tried to get himself together.
"Oh! Wait, we got stuff for free? No way!" Chris checked his inventory and saw all the rewards. "Nice! Maybe we should start hunting these horrors beyond our comprehension from now on."
"Don't talk nonsense; this was a super rare event. I blame our bad luck, but it could also be considered good luck." Paul laughed, storing all the skeletons.
He was also able to store the red crystals everywhere, and he went out of his way to mine those stuck to the ceiling as well.
They were all called [Pyrocrystals] and were of varying levels of quality; those as low as C Grade had only a faint red color, while the most intense reds were as high as S Grade.
Based on this, Paul inquired that the more fire they harbored, the higher their quality, and also the more dangerous they would be to handle.
"This material is flammable and explosive," said Chris. "Maybe we can use it to make bombs, or maybe fire swords and spears?"
"Not bad, but if it's really gunpowder-like..." Paul smiled. "Don't you think there's something even better we could make with it?"
"Wait, guns?!" Chris asked. "Are they even in the game?"
"Guns, cannons, missiles—their level of explosiveness is enough to nuke half a city if I craft it into something competent," said Paul. "But I'll need to investigate how to even make that to begin with... Blueprints and everything—that'll take a lot of days. I have little idea about guns and other things."
"Fair," said Chris. "Maybe we could bring a whole revolution of weapons."
"We? I think I'll be the only one crafting stuff here." Paul laughed.
"Eh?! Hey, I am your partner in crime, right? So I get some of the credit for... Err, helping you get the materials, no?" laughed Chris. "Also, I'll help you upload the video and livestream it, so you better recognize my efforts."
"Fine, okay…" Paul finished mining the Pyrocrystals as he walked back to Chris.
He was drinking several elixirs one after another, and his cute belly bulged a bit after getting it full of that weird silver-colored elixir they obtained.
"Phew~" he sighed in relief.
"What did you even drink now?" Paul wondered.
"Can't you tell? It's the elixir we got! Yeah, I filled me up with it, but it's worth it, look!" Chris said.
FLUOSH!
A powerful demonic aura surged from him as Paul noticed his Lust Stigma Ranked Up, and even his Heavenly Core all at once!
"Woah, did that elixir do that…?"
"Yep! The Refinement Elixir refines your cores, so it gives you a boost to your growth, kind of like an EXP Potion in other MMO games."
"No way!"
Paul quickly took the ten silver-colored Refinement Elixirs and drank them one after another in a similar fashion to Chris.
At the tenth Elixir, he already felt slightly sickly, and his stomach was swirling constantly. It was shocking how realistic even drinking and eating were in-game.
"Ugh… I-I think I'm done- Ah!"
FLASH!
And the same effect happened to him, but it was regarding his own Soul and his Blood Core, both of them erupted with power, growing stronger as a silver essence refined them.
Ding!
[You have consumed the [Refinement Elixir (S Grade)] x10!]
[Your body has absorbed the Refining Silver Essence! Your Blood Core, Psyche, and Bloodline have absorbed its energies and strengthened themselves.]
[Your [Blood Core]: [Blood Refinement Realm (Tier 2: Rank 2)] has Ranked Up to Tier 3: Rank 1!]
[You have reached the Blood Strengthening Realm!]
[Your Blood Power has increased by +2250.]
[Your Strength, Vitality, and Dexterity have increased by +1800.]
[Your Arcana has increased by +900.]
[You learned the Racial Skill: [Bat Transformation (C): Lv1]!]
[Bat Transformation (C): Lv1]: [Spend 1000 Arcana to turn into a small Bat creature for 1 Hour. In this state, your Defensive and Offensive Stats decrease by 70%, but your Movement Speed, Flight Speed, and Senses increase by 50%. Can be turned on and off at will. Once time runs out, you will immediately turn back to a Vampire, and you must activate the Skill again to transform once more.]
[Your Racial Skill Slot has increased by +1]
[The Skill has been automatically equipped.]
"Bat Transformation?" Paul wondered.
It had its weaknesses, but it also had quite a few advantages; its stealth usage was superb, for example. And he could fly indefinitely for an hour anywhere he wanted, which was another plus. Though he would have to test first if his Body Paralysis would affect his flight or not.
[The Racial Skills: [False Immortality (S): Lv1] and [Blood Bending (A): Lv1] have Leveled Up!]
[Your [Bloodline]: [Strong-Blooded Dhampir Bloodline (Tier 1: Rank 5)] has Ranked Up to Tier 2: Rank 1!]
[You gained +600 Blood Power.]
[You gained +300 Arcana.]
[The Racial Skill: [Bloodline Absorption (S): Lv1] has Leveled Up!]
[Your [Soul]: [Spiritual Golden Sea Psyche (Tier 2: Rank 3)] has Ranked Up to Tier 3: Rank 1!]
[Your Psyche has evolved into Spiritual Golden Red Sea Psyche!]
[You gained +1200 Soul Aether.]
[You Class Skill Slot has increased by +1]
[You can now choose a Subclass in the Church of the Gods.]
[Your Class will now be able to Rank Up once you trigger the necessary Class Change Quest.]
"Right, Class Rank Up, also a Subclass…" Vlad nodded, looking at the notifications. "But how do I even trigger that quest?"
Class Rank Up Quests were part of the natural gameplay of Fantasy Story Online and would usually be related to the background of the avatar character themselves.
Overcoming their fears, becoming closer with a forgotten family member, or even avenging someone dear to your character—all these things could work as a Class Rank Up Quest.
In FSO, every Class and Subclass had ranks to them, cataloged by the number of stars they possessed, when a player reached a certain level of strength, they could Rank it up to a higher star level, giving them greater benefits, a boost to their stats, and sometimes even new Skills.
Vlad glanced at his own status.
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[Player Name]: [Vlad Von Sange VII]
[Titles]: [Iron Blood Empire's Seventh Prince]
[Blood Core]: [Blood Strengthening Realm (Tier 3: Rank 1)] (Blood Energy: 1.850/6.500)
[Bloodline]: [Strong-Blooded Dhampir Bloodline (Tier 2: Rank 1)]
[Soul]: [Spiritual Golden Red Sea Psyche (Tier 3: Rank 1)]
[Race]: [Dhampir (Weak Bloodline)]
[Class]: [Seventh Vampire Prince: ★]
[Subclass]: [None]
[Blood Power]: [8.750]
[Soul Ether]: [6.450]
[Strength]: [3.300]
[Arcana]: [1.500]
[Vitality]: [3.100]
[Dexterity]: [3.250]
[Character Background Traits]: [Insatiable Gluttony (Legendary Grade)] [Heavenly Demon's Soul (Legendary Grade)]
[Character Background Flaws]: [Triple Shattered Meridian Physique (Legendary Grade)] [The Lonely Demon's Last Wish (Legendary Grade)]
[Racial Skills (5/6)]
[False Immortality (S): Lv2] [Blood Bending (A): Lv2] [Bloodline Absorption (S): Lv1] [Moonlight Boost (C): Lv2] [Ogre's Muscles (C): Lv2] [Bat Transformation (C): Lv1]
[Class Skills (4/6)]
[Soul-Eating Fist Technique (S): Lv2] [Treacherous (D): Lv2] [Beast Hunter (D): Lv1] [Shadow Spear (C): Lv1]
[Subclass Skills (5/5)]
[Alchemy (C): Lv6] [Crafting (D): Lv4] [Runic Engravement (B): Lv4] [Echolocation (D): Lv1] [Sewing (D): Lv4]
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He had really grown much stronger than before. But at the same time, his debuff that decreased everything to -90% made these stats much lower than they looked.
"Hah, what's the point of increasing my stats so much?" he sighed. "Well, my Soul Aether does not decrease, at least."
To make up for this weakness, he would have to either increase his stats to a ridiculous number or… find a way to temporarily cancel all debuffs at the very least.
But seeing how even the Heavenly Demon found that rather impossible, he had given up on his hopes for now.
"Anyways, shall we get going?" wondered Paul. "I need to go repair my armor already."
"Sure!" Chris nodded. "Let's go."
As the two teleported back to Elderbridge with relaxed smiles on their faces.
FLASH!
The first thing that greeted their eyes was a system message, followed by the screams of people and crimson flames covering the nearby houses as red crystals grew around the plaza.
[The Defense against {The Unending Crimson} Raid of the [Wild Dog Plains (Tier 1)] Dungeon has failed!]
[The Defense against {The Unending Crimson} Raid of the [Blood Bat King's Cave (Tier 1~2)] Dungeon has failed!]
[The World Event: {Invasion of the Outer Ones} progresses…]
[The First of Many, {The Unending Crimson} has released his flames upon the Realm of Obscuritas.]
[The Village of Elderbridge is under a Dungeon Raid!]
And then Paul finally realized why {The Unending Crimson} was so relaxed.
The Raid happened simultaneously to the three Dungeons at once.
And only one of them triumphed; the other teams were completely massacred.
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