44 (44) Ancient Bond

"Where did you come from?"

Celeste pointed towards Barren, her tier 2 analysis only displayed 'Crystal Golem' but showed no level, name or description. Though she asked the question, she had a vague presumption that Barren was the culprit behind the sudden crystal wall and the thousands of shards that had killed her.

"Forget it," She sighed when Barren didn't answer, "I don't care too much so I won't tell anyone." If they were purposely trying to hide Barren, then she might as well repect that, she wouldn't get into any trouble from ignoring it either.

"The Ancient Bond, how do you know it?" Barren asked, his glowing eyes stared right through Celeste, they were filled with the knowledge and wisdom from the thousands of years he had been alive for. Even the Elven or immortal race didn't have as much knowledge as he, unless they were an ancient as well that was.

Celeste bit her lip, the elders of her family had told her not to impart this piece of knowledge to any other player. They had told her that this bond is far more powerful than it seems, part of the forgotten relics and knowledge of the ancient past.

After considering the matter for a bit, she decided to tell the tale the Elders told her. After all, the three Bosses weren't players, and Barren already seemed to know about it.

"The elders suggested to make this Bond with the Boss who beat me, f I think they are strong and worthy."

Barren's crystal head bobbed rather cutely as he nodded through her story. Celeste's story was incomplete and full of missing imformation, but he wouldn't tell her that after all the secret behind the Ancient Bond could change the whole world.

"Do you know the cost?"

"Cost?" Celeste became confused. All she knew was that the Ancient Bond allowed a player to link themselves with a dungeon and the Bosses if they agreed to it.

Doing this would allow the player to set a specific respawn point in the dungeon; during the period of time when the player was existent in the non-physical plane, also known as the spirit or soul plane, they could direct their soul towards the respawn point by following a 'road' in the soul plane. The default respawn point would be the last, safest place they had slept in in the nearest town. At a high enough understanding of the Soul Plane, one could even travel or 'teleport' to any of their respawn points.

Furthermore, the player would not lose anything if they died in the bonded dungeon. One could treat the dungeon as a training room.

Another benefit was mutual for both the player and the monster. This was experience sharing. When the bonded beings killed an opposition, they would recieve 90% of all experience they would have normally earned. But the other beings who were bonded would recieve 20% of all experience the killer would have earned. Basically double of what the killer lost.

However, since this worked both ways, it was normally very beneficial for both parties of the Bond, unless one of the parties were extremely lazy and just leached off the other.

These Ancient Bonds could be said to be permanent as removing them would cost 10 levels, this was an extremely heavy fine as the higher the level one was, the more experience was needed in each level. But even the first ten levels were extremely precious as level 10 was the point of specialisation.

Barren recalled the ancient days when players figured this bond out, during that time, smart players bonded with some stupid Bosses who had potential, when these Bosses became powerful overlords, these players just started leaching of the Boss.

The ancient days were full of wonder, war hadn't yet broken out between the players and the monsters completely, those days didn't have the stereotype of good versus evil, instead everything was more... fun between the different categorical species then it was now.

Leaching was mainly done on the player side as Dungeon Bosses would normally have a steady income of experience, but players on the other hand could 'retire' from the need to hunt monsters. There was nothing these Bosses could do except grit their teeth in anger at how they became used. Some even forcefully broke the bond, but this meant the one who forced it lost 15 levels as repercussion, whilst the other party only lost 5 levels.

A reason why this Bond became lost in time was all due to the exploitation and negative labelling on the Ancient Bond, only the most trustworthy accepted the Bond, and out of them, only a few realised it's overpowering secret.

"Cost? What cost?"

"Each side of the Ancient Bond needs to sacrifice a level, since you are a player, you will lose a whole level. But since we three are the Bosses of the same dungeon, we can split it however we want." Barren sounded like a dignified and solemn elder who was proud of his own words, "It's not like death, you will keep the extra experience. In your case, you will lose a level, but your remaining experience should be enough to level up again after killing a few monsters."

Celeste frowned, she had only just lost a level, but she was going to lose another one if she continued with the Ancient Bond. Although level 12 was still an increadible feat, compared to being level 14, it was the difference between day and night. (not yet heaven and earth)

She started pondering whether it was worth it, if what Barren had said about retaining the experience, then it wasn't really too much of a hassle to get back to level 13. Celeste was so deep in thought about this matter that she didn't even realise that Barren could directly see her progression in experience.

Meanwhile, Kraton and Lysine were pestering Barren about more details, the two could tell that Barren was hiding something, something that made him happy. His only reponse to the two was, "Just accept it". Even his crystallic body tinted a bit orange in excitement.

"I... I accept it." With her decision finally made, she declared her resolution. If her family elders kept this secret like a treasure, surely it must be worth it.

Hearing Celeste's proclaimation, Barren silently smiled, not that the crystal face of his changed shape in any way. "Then, we three Bos-"

"Cough, let me do it" Kraton interrupted Barren quickly so that he could accept it himself and look like the 'main' Boss. "We three Bosses of Ophid Crypt, shall accept the Ancient Bond that Player (uhm) Celeste offers. I hereby officially-"

Kraton's speech was abruptly cut off when Lysine and Barren forced his hand into the glowing lotus symbol before they did so themselves, thus completing the Ancient Bond.

"Sorry you had to hear that," Lysine whispered into Celeste's ear and then proceeded to reprimand Kraton. "You could have just said 'I agree' or something like that!"

Celeste felt some of her strength vanish for the second time that day, but her weakened state only made her even more determined to train harder and grow faster.

For Lysine and Kraton, they had lost the experience they had earned in today's battle, if it wasn't for the record in their Data Rock, they would feel like it never happened.

The price of the Bond was a whole level, or the experience average of a whole level if their were multiple Bosses. Kraton and Lysine didn't actually know this point, but Barren did, therefore he offered the Ancient Bond more of his experience, letting the other two lose only what they earned today.

The loss of experience didn't matter too much for an ancient being like Barren, being a unique monster, and a stone monster, he could also absorb the earth's minerals and energies to grow.

When Celeste left the dungeon again, she remembered to check if the coast was clear. Sighing in relief, she rushed back to her accomodation, avoiding the town centre in order to evade her pestering followers.

Inside the dungeon, after trying to make Barren explain his excitement (and failing), the two Bosses left to go to the third floor, leaving Barren to meditate in his Crystal form.

When they had finally ascended the stairs, a mumbled voice reverberated out of the large precious crystal.

"Those fools will thank me in the future."