6 Darkness

There wasn't that much of a problem with a temple.

In fact, it was so good, everyone - player and local alike - still searched for the whereabouts of some of the temples spoken in legends and hymns. Finding one, no matter how small it is, could grant its first explorer various benefits that could even change their entire life.

Wars had been waged between big guilds, kingdoms and even the Empire when a Supreme Temple was found.

All of the participants were excited by this finding. They could earn many things from just entering this temple. And if they could keep these Forgotten Vows - whatever it was - they could use it to trade for other superior items, equipment or even skills if not use it for themselves.

True, there wasn't that much problem with a temple.

'Quantitatively that's true but…'

Looking from a qualitative perspective, though temples didn't have many problems, the ones that they did have ranged from dangerous to lethal to deadly and sometimes even…

'Instant death!'

A temple had its own holy area. A temple would exert its own identity to the surrounding space and territories. If any being entered this space, they would be influenced by the power of the temple. Simply put in gamer terms…

'Status effect!'

Emmet focused his attention on the Temple Shrouded in Darkness. He needed more info to assess the difficulty and dangers of this new environment.

'Looking at the size of its holy area, I would say a Lesser Temple.'

As its name implies, Temple Shrouded in Darkness engulfed its surroundings in darkness. Meaning the dome of darkness was part of its holy area. And if one looked from another perspective…

'This temple isn't the one shrouded in darkness. Contrarily, it is the one swallowing its surrounding in darkness. Meaning…'

"Darkness is this temple's main element. This is gonna be hard…'

Darkness element is a very very rare element. One that had to be nurtured where even the presence of light was but a stranger to this area. It took a very long time to naturally form, maybe hundreds or thousands of years even.

Because of its rarity, darkness element wasn't that well known, more so researched. However, there was a conjecture that stated darkness element to harbors a very notorious property.

"Mana corrosion…"

And as if to prove that conjecture, the flash stone that was filled to the brim with Emmet's mana, suddenly lost its luster. Not even a second later the light extinguished completely, shrouding the temple back in darkness.

What did this imply to those that understand?

'One, magic and spells will be interrupted once I enter the holy area.

Two, a safe landing would be more difficult to achieve especially those that depend on magic and spells.

Three, visibility would be a problem. We cannot see what happened inside the holy area unless we entered it but that may not apply to any entity residing within the temple's compound.

Four, managing mana would be a problem. It will feel like an acid bath for everybody.

Five, it would be extremely difficult to challenge the guardian solo seeing that it is a Lesser Temple.

Conclusion… land safely outside the holy area, enter it with precaution, and either team up with other challengers or clear the trial without invoking the guardian warth.'

Emmet grinned, "Sounds like a plan."

'Or maybe just go with the flow. This is a game after all.'

There was one little problem with Emmet's plan. There was no place in the crater's base that wasn't the temple's holy area.

So he had to improvise…

'I'll just have to land at the edge of the crater.'

Holy areas came in different sizes and shapes. The size depends on the entrapped strength of the temple itself while the shape usually differs from temple to temple.

'This one is dome-shaped. The edges of the crater would be the starting point of the holy area. That is as good as landing outside of it.'

The whole rationale of landing outside the temple's holy area was to make the landing to be as smooth as possible. If by dumb chance Emmet's brain is not working and he decided to land at the center of the crater, Emmet would enter the holy area from its highest point.

At that height, many things could happen and one of the most obvious one was his elevator spell to be interrupted or outright canceled. So landing on the edges of the crater was as good as landing outside of the holy area or so Emmet thought.

'Now that everything is ready, let's begin making the elevator.'

Emmet focused back on his mana vein. This time, instead of having it flow to his hand, he spread the mana thin and wide, filling every inch of his body with this speck of blue light.

This was the hallmark of a full-body spell or magic. In this case, it was a full-body spell.

As Emmet prepared his mana for his custom-made full-body spell, he brought his hand and legs close to his body and started tilting his body downwards aiming for the edge of the crater.

He started to gain more speed and lose altitude at a very fast rate.

Emmet grinned and all the ones he passed by looked at him with astonishment left for the raven-haired boy who had an intrigued sparkle in his eyes, waiting for what this orange-haired boy would do next.

'Magic?' thought the raven-haired boy. 'But no augmentation or buff would help him withstand the fall… Is it a higher-level magic that could even negate impact damage? Or am I reading too far with this lad?'

As the raven-haired boy continued his speculation, Emmet already finished with his preparations.

Time to land.

Emmet spun his body such that his legs are now pointing towards the ground. He was already close to the edge and deemed it was within permissible error to execute his spells now.

'Full-body spell: Vacuum + Double Air Cushion + Air Shock + String + Chain…'

"Zephyr's Stomp!"

The spell started and Emmet was pulled downwards even faster as if there were no air resistance between him and the ground. A soft breeze spun beneath his legs like a transparent platform made of air. Another one was also created a little distance beneath the one he was standing on. Two orbs of spinning mad wind manifested between the two air platforms and a chain of those orbs beneath the bottom platform connected with strings of wind all the way to the ground.

Seconds passed and Emmet prepared himself for the impact.

And soon…

'Boom!'

The ground shook and the explosion vibrated throughout the hallowed space of the crater, once again interrupting those who were scripting.

All of them thought, 'He's done now,' left for those who understand what had just transpired.

''No way! Is that Zephyr's Stomp!''

Those that recognize that unusual high-level spell. Though they could not see because of the holy area, these people knew…

''Someone landed first!''

As the dust cleared, Emmet was coughing his lung out, sprawled out in a small crater of his own creation.

[Notice: First person to land successfully]

[Bonus point: +100 pts]

Emmet gave himself a thumbs up

"Nailed it!"