Chapter 2: Razerks' Laboratory(2)
Razerks' Laboratory (2)
In faded, black ink, the book's title could be seen faintly, in the dim light of the room.
[An Encyclopedia on the monsters of The Great Divide]
Category: Multi-Use Book
Rank: Uncommon
- An old book written by the Monster Researcher Floyd Finch
- Details the various species of monsters populating The Great Divide
"Hmm, this could be useful," he thought aloud whilst flipping through the pages, "as expected, a list of different monsters including their strengths, weaknesses, even hunting grounds, this will surely improve our hunting efficiency...."
"Can't say I didn't hope for a skill book though."
Dílis lamented at the thought for a short while, before placing the book into his bag.
One thing about Soulkin Online which was unlike any other was that you didn't have an inventory, instead, players had to carry any equipment on their persons, with few exceptions.
This meant that if you were to die, you would lose all equipment you owned, this added another level of risk to the game, as items were typically expensive and could cost you a lot of money if you were to lose them.
Dílis started running his fingers along the books lined up along the shelves, reading the titles as he went along.
He stopped.
Dílis started to see a pattern emerging between the contents of the books in front of him.
All of them had something to do with monsters.
From simple hunting guides to the anatomy of bird type monsters and the birth cycle of reptilian creatures.
Other than the common theme of monsters being present throughout each of the titles, there seemed to be no other similarity between them.
Dílis wondered what Razerk could have been researching.
Maybe a new type of potion? or some new application of a monsters exclusive magic to everyday life?
He couldn't quite come up with the answer that he was searching for.
He continued searching the shelves before something caught his eye.
"Wait," he mumbled.
He had noticed something different about one of the books.
There were multiple scraps of paper stuck between the pages, with notes lazily scribbled on them.
Dílis pulled out the book to check its contents
[Evolution and what causes it]
Category: Multi-Use Book
Rank: Rare
-An Ancient Book that seems to date back to the era of the Fallen Empire
-A collection of theories as to what causes monsters to evolve
"Evolution huh?"
The book wasn't anything special in and of itself, apart from its Rare rating, the book contained various theories by multiple different researchers on as to what causes monsters to evolve.
Some hypothesised that it was due to the climate they were raised/lived in.
Razerk had attached a note which read
~Impossible, foolish, ignore~
Dílis thought it was a bit harsh towards that specific researcher but continued on
Another page claimed that it was due to the actions they took, which influenced how they would grow.
Yet another note was placed at the top, its contents different from the first
~incomplete, how do they evolve? Only puts forth what determines what they evolve into, has some merit, include?~
What was he talking about, included, Dílis thought on this for a moment before continuing.
The last page noted put forth the idea that since monsters have levels, they must also gain experience much the same way the five races do.
The five races consist of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and beast-men, all of which lean more towards the human appearance.
The note attached to the top of the page was by far the most positive of the bunch
~Most probable theory, if experience can alter the human body to become stronger, why can't it also alter the monsters~
"Just what was he researching here?" Dílis asked himself before putting the book back.
His gaze then gravitated towards the potions which he had seen when he first entered the room.
"I do believe I shall find my answer in those bottles,", "good thing I brought some appraisal scrolls."
Dílis rummaged around in his bag for a bit before slinging it back over his shoulder.
In his hand, he held multiple scrolls sealed with a red ribbon.
He looked at the rows of potions in front of him, a line of purple, blue and pink.
"Well, here goes nothing," he thought, before muttering the activation for the scroll in his hand.
"I invoke thy power which resides in mine scroll+Appraisal."
The scroll immediately caught fire and started burning away in the hands of Dílis, leaving behind a transparent blue screen
[Failed Purple Potion]
Category: Potion
Rank:-
- A failed potion brewed by the Grand-Sage Razerk
-Drinking it will result in instant death
-Can only be drunk willingly
"Useless...nice," he looked sad as that scroll had cost him was 1000 gold to buy, all that gold down the drain for a suicide potion
"Alright second times the charm," he thought to himself, as he pulled out another Scroll of appraisal
[Failed Blue Potion]
Category: Potion
Rank:-
-A failed potion brewed by the Grand-Sage Razerk
-Drinking it will rid the user of all EXP earned
-Can only be drunk willingly
"That's a failed potion for ya, who would willingly drink that?"
after the two failed attempts he seriously wondered whether or not he should use another scroll, but eventually gave in.
[Failed Pink Potion]
Category: Potion
Rank:-
-A failed potion brewed by the Grand-Sage Razerk
-Drinking it will result in your skin appearance changing to that of a monster for a brief moment
-You will die soon after consumption
-Can only be drunk willingly
After wasting 3000 gold on three of the highest tier appraisal scrolls, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who could tell you who looked the most dead in the room, Dílis, or Razerks' remains.
Dílis needed a break... everything had happened so quickly that he needed another moment.
He crouched down to rest his legs when he felt a sharp pain in his hand
"argh"
*Bing*
[HP [-1] ]
"Thanks game, I got that!" he shouted angrily, coddling his bleeding hand.
He looked to where he placed his hand and saw the shards of glass he had stepped on before.
"Jesus, what's up with that?"
-Activate: Skill Name+Inspect
*Bing*
[Shards of the potion brewed by the one revered as a Grand-Sage, Razerk]
Dílis' face went from one of anger to one of extreme confusion.
"If he knew that all of his potions were failures why would he drink one," he pondered this thought for a moment "unless?", he quickly pulled out a scroll of appraisal.
[Potion of Evolution (empty)
Category: Potion
Rank:-
-An empty vial of the culmination of Grand-Sage Razerks' research the evolution potion
-Has already been drunk by the Grand-Sage Razerk
-One of only two in existence
"This description... one of two... wait, there's another!!?" Dílis started searching around frantically.
Behind the books? on the desk? in the potion cabinet? no, maybe it was one of the potions.
Nothing
"God where could this bloody potion be?", he exclaimed, annoyed.
Before long he realised he had looked everywhere.
"argh dammit where could it be?" he started scratching his head with an annoyed expression plastered on his face before something caught his eye.
His gaze slowly gravitated to the Skeleton of Razerk but more specifically the slight bulge in the pocket of his robe.
"First desecration now grave robbing", "ay, ay, ay," he shook his head in disgust at what he was about to do.
"This game can feel too real sometimes," he thought to himself, as he approached the body of the headless Razerk and started rummaging through his pockets.
After a moment of rummaging around, his hand came into contact with something cold and smooth and when he pulled it out he saw a small, glass, cuboid bottle, holding some sort of iridescent liquid.
"Right, this is my last scroll, let's pray."
Dílis got onto his knees and spoke up to the ceiling of the cave, "Oh RNGesus bless us with good luck this day," realising what he was doing was something really embarrassing, Dílis stood up and muttered the activation for the scroll of appraisal.
Meanwhile, his cheeks were turning a lovely shade of red from what he had just done.
"I invoke thy power which resides in mine scroll+Appraisal."
[Potion of Evolution]
Category: Potion
Rank: Hero {Unique}
-A Potion Brewed by the Grand-Sage Razerk, the culmination of all his research into evolution
-Once drank this grants the ability of evolution to any breed of monster
-Can only be drunk willingly
-One of only two In existence
-Poisonous if drunk by the Five Great Races
"W...W...W...What?"
Something had stunned Dílis so much so that he temporarily lost the ability to think, nevermind form a coherent sentence.
Rank: Hero{Unique}
In Soulkin online there was known to only be seven ranks available to the players.
{- the lowest rank, unranked, its junk basically}
{Common, regular items that aren't hard to come by}
{Uncommon, slightly better and slightly harder to come by than common}
{Rare, very good, rather hard to come by, usually earned through mid-rank quest rewards}
{Epic, extremely good, hard to come by, usually obtained through the completion of a high-grade quest}
{Legendary, The best rank currently in Soulkin Online possessed only by the most powerful players}
{Unique, usually tagged onto another rank, this binds the item to your account and cannot be dropped, you can, however, summon it any time you wish}
It was an undisputed fact in Soulkin that these were the only ranks in existence, something that gave peace of mind to the players.
The fact that, even though the game and its world were largely unexplored and imposing, one of the only Facts that the players found solace in was the fact that they knew the ranking system at the very least and could grasp a players power level by the rank of their items.
"The SIB's will lose their head if they find out about this," he thought to himself as he looked over the effects once more.
In the world of Soulkin, the SIB's or Soulkin information Brokers were the people who bought any and all information Soulkin related, to distribute it behind a pay-wall, making themselves a nice little profit. Needless to say, trust was a big part of the business, if people couldn't rely on your information then nobody will pay for it. That was why if the Hero rank item Dílis had discovered became known to the public, a lot of people would lose faith in the profession.
The smile that had found itself creeping onto Dílis' face soon receded, replaced instead with a rather sour expression.
"Isn't this...kind of useless?"
His eyes kept being drawn to one specific line of the description
-Once drank this grants the ability of evolution to any breed of monster
Dílis was confused, why would someone want to purposefully make their enemies more powerful.
His thoughts continued to pass by like cars on a motorway before one decided to stop for some time, enough for him to start theorizing as to the possibilities.
Dílis let out a little smirk as he began to imagine the thought of boasting to his friends about his awesomeness.
"I call forth my eternal companion, Summon, Fen."
To the right of him a shining white light appeared and from it emerged the white wolf, Fen
He crouched down, bringing the potion towards Fens mouth.
Dílis had never once thought of selling the item, why not? you may be thinking.
While the thought had crossed his mind, the potion might not have had any immediate use but it was still Hero rank, a completely new rank just recently discovered by him.
He would have been able to make a good bit of money off it.
The problem was, even if he wanted to sell it, he couldn't, why?
Unique
This made it so that you cannot trade or sell the item as it is bound to your character. This is the reason consumables never contained the Unique rank.
This item Dílis had found once again broke the logic of Soulkin.
Dílis made sure Fen was willing before calling out
"Use item, Fen."
*Bing*
[Are you sure you wish to use Item -Potion of Evolution- on companion Fen {YES/NO}]
He tapped yes
*Bzzzt*
[Error: Item -Potion of Evolution- cannot be used on companion, Fen]
"Huh? then what's the point of this crappy thing, watduyuuumeeen cannot use, you said and I quote, "Once drank this grants the ability of evolution to any breed of monster", that's what you, the game, said and now you're telling me it doesn't work? Explain!"
*Bing*
[Once made into Soulkin, monsters are no longer treated as a separate entity but as an extension of yourself]
"OI! You know that's bull don't you game!", Dílis spoke in a low tone that gave off an icy feel, "I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you believe the absolute waffle you just spouted off to me!"
*Bing*
[I...]
"HMMMMMM!!!"
[...]
The notifications stopped appearing for quite some time after that.
Dílis had won this round.