Chapter 42

[Shard of the Ruyi Jingu Bang]

Rating: Rare

[One of the pieces of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the Monkey King's holy artifact. It currently has no function and must be assembled with the other pieces of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

* Currently collected: 1 of 10.]

Zephyr nodded as he received the golden shard. Even it was just a rare rated, Zephyr could feel it was familiar.

'Divine Iron...So the Ruyi Jingu Bang was created from the Divine Iron? This should also be one of the reason why he is strong.'

Zephyr thought as he glanced at Sun Wukong. As he was immersed in his thoughts, notifications appeared in his view.

[There is a related chain quest. Would you like to continue?]

[As you already possessed 2 legendary classes, Class change quest will be change to hidden quest.]

[A hidden quest has been created.]

[Monkey King's Successor]

Difficulty: SSS

[Although he decided to leave his legacy, he was concerned that a huge number of successors would affect his reputation. As a result, he split the Ruyi Jingu Bang into 10 shards and hid them all over Tensura.

Quest Clear Conditions: Gather the shards to complete the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Only then you can become his official successor.]

Quest Clear Reward: Title 'Great Sage', Legendary Item 'Ruyi Jingu Bang'.

Quest Failure: None.]

With the title of Great Sage and the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the successor could truly be the new Monkey King, and it was clear that Zephyr would soon be competing with other players to find the other shards of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"My true body, the actual Monkey King, isn't one to give things away easy. He's a little odd, and he's only satisfied when he sees others in misery."

The Monkey King's exuvia laughed but Zephyr could tell that the one in front of him shared the same personality and he knew that even as an exuvia, Sun Wukong would still be delighted to see the suffering of others.

"The pieces of the Ruyi Jingu Bang are scattered everywhere, and you've taken the last piece I have. I don't know where the rest are. They might even be in the hands of people who have no idea what it is."

Zephyr nodded as he could guess the picture. He then glanced at Sun Wukong again and fell into a deep thought.

'I used my 100% power earlier yet I can see that I'm nowhere near beating this guy. Is this the power of the Monkey King?'

Zephyr was only able to withstand Sun Wukong's attacks earlier because he was lucky enough to activate the Absolute Defense of the dragon. If not, even with the damage reduction of the armor, he knew it would only take him 1 attack to lose the fight.

Also when, the time Sun Wukong pulled out the Ruyi Jingu Bang, his chances of winning immediately plummeted. Suddenly, Zephyr then wondered where does the Ruyi Jingu Bang came from if he already possessed the shard.

He then asked Sun Wukong about his curiosity as he then answered Zephyr's question truthfully.

"This is an imaginary world that I made. In other words, my territory. In this place, I can do anything I wanted to. Even the real Ruyi Jingu Bang is in the real body, I can replicate it here."

Zephyr nodded as basically, Sun Wukong possessed the absolute control over his domain. Practically, he is invinsible here.

"If you said that the Ruyi Jingu Bang is in the real body, can you explain about this shards?"

Zephyr asked as he thought that it should not be possible for 2 Ruyi Jingu Bang to appear. As Sun Wukong could understand his question, he then spoke..

"Well the real Ruyi Jingu Bang is in the real body but I didn't said that if you completed the shards, it would a fake."

"The completed Ruyi Jingu Bang is also real and with the same quality that the real Monkey King currently possessed."

Zephyr nodded and didn't asked why there were two Ruyi Jingu Bang as he also didn't care about it. In the first place, he wasn't enthusiastic about the quest at all.

Now that he had satisfied his curiosity about what the hidden dungeon is all about, all he wanted to do left is to laze around again just like he usually do.

Seing that Zephyr has no enthusiasm at all about the quest, Sun Wukong was silent for a while as he didn't expect this kind of scenario. He expected Zephyr to gladly accept the quest as the Monkey King was known for being strong and unrivaled.

He thought that other people would flock to obtain the same power that he had but Zephyr didn't do so. What Sun Wukong could see was the emotionless face that was filled with boredom.

Sun Wukong sighed as he could guess what kind of personality Zephyr had as he had live long enough after obtaining immortality. At first, he thought he should kill Zephyr as quitters didn't qualify to be his successor.

'Naturally, quitters don't deserve to have the Monkey King's title.'

But he also thought that the kind of person Zephyr is, should not be a quitter. Sun Wukong thought that he just needed a stimulus to Zephyr to became interested.

As both Sun Wukong and Zephyr possessed a common trait, it was to find some things that would interest them but they were very opposite.

Sun Wukong was the loud person type as he was a battle junkie who roamed around Tensura to fight the ones he heard were strong. Zephyr on the other hand, is the quiet type as he was a loner and just find things that would entertain him.

"If you accepted and completed this quest and after obtaining my power, you will only encounter more interesting stuff in the future."

Zephyr's eyes slightly lit up as he heard many interesting stuff would happen if he completed the quest.

'Maybe I could even find some interesting things when I find the shards.'

He squeezed the shard of the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his fist before storing it inside the inventory.

"I'll do it. It seems interesting so I don't find any reason to refuse."

"Hm. You're pretty bold for a newbie, huh?"

Although Zephyr's personality was different from that of the Monkey King, the vestige thought that they were made of the same thing. The guy in front of him was a beast.

[You have accepted the hidden quest (Monkey King's Successor)].

Sun Wukong grinned that Zephyr accepted the quest as he thought this fella was very interesting. His impression on Zephyr was very favorable as he thought Zephyr was an anomaly.

As someone who could fight a Tier 5 entity who was not even weakened when he was just a Tier 1 was not heard at all. Especially if he was fighting the Monkey King even it was just an exuvia.

"Thanks."

Zephyr nodded at the Monkey King's vestige. Although the vestige hadn't really helped him, Zephyr did get many good stuffs out of the encounter.

"I know you don't really mean it."

The Monkey King's vestige smirked and waved. A red portal opened in the air.

"Anyway, that's enough talking. If you leave through there, you can go back to where you came from."

Zephyr was about to step inside the portal, but he suddenly remembered something and turned his head,

"I have something to ask."

"Hm? You're not going to ask me about the quest?" The Monkey King's vestige cocked his head to one side.

Zephyr shook his head in denial as he voiced out his curiosity.

"Do you know something about the Sword Saint?"

The eyes of the Monkey King's vestige lit up as soon as he heard it. He then fell into a thought for a while and spoke to Zephyr.

"Hmmm. The Sword Saint was called the strongest humanity before. Well he was strong for sure but for me it's not very impressive."

Zephyr was curious as how the Monkey King's vestige stated of what he think about the Sword Saint. Zephyr then asked him as he concluded on how Sun Wukong was able to say it that way.

"Did you perhaps fought him before?"

"Yes. It was really interesting as I fought with Sword Saint Izroth. His ability to cut anything was really troublesome but it's not at a level I can't handle."

"Then what Tier was he?"

Zephyr voiced out his curiosity if Sun Wukong was really able to fought with the previous Sword Saint as he could feel he was bragging around.

"The highest Tier that he reached was Tier 4 and was on the verge on breaking to Tier 5. Well I lowered my power from Tier 6 to Tier 5 that time so naturally I won against him. Well he was able to put up a challenge befitting the title of humanity's strongest."

Zephyr's interest was piqued hearing that the previous Sword Saint wasn't able to enter the realm of the Demi-Gods and remained a mortal being.

He concluded that the process of exuviation must really be hard as he thought that the previous Sword's Saint achievements shouldn't be lacking at all.

As Zephyr also heard that Sun Wukong complimented the previous Sword Saint, he really should be strong as he knew someone with Sun Wukong's strength won't compliment someone easily.

Sun Wukong then remembered the equipment used on him before that was currently on the inventory of Zephyr, he was amazed of how amazing it was as he could sense that the quality rivals if not surpasses his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

As Zephyr was in a deep thought, Sun Wukong snapped him out of his daze as he spoke.

"I got to see something interesting for the first time in a long while. Ah, if you meet my true body, don't show your equipments to him. His greed for treasures is extraordinary."

"I'll be careful." Zephyr disappeared into the red portal, and the imaginary world closed behind him.

"Hehe. Interesting guy." The vestige's eyes sparkled. Ever since Zephyr had entered the imaginary world, he'd been peeking at Zephyr's different aspects and appearances.

"Looks like someone who has awakened the power of a dragon. I can also felt as if he had slain a dragon and a dragon was gazing through him as if it was protecting him."

A bitter smile appeared on the vestige's face as he raised his head to the sky. He was confused why a member of the strongest transcendent would be interested in other things.

****

Zephyr then arrived at the summit again after exiting the portal. Zephyr's body also shifted back to his previous form as the duration of the Dragonification was over.

The dragon scales disappeared as if it has never been there. In truth, Zephyr was amazed about the Dragonification as he could sense his strength increases incredibly. He thought it was a pity that he forgotten to look at his status window when he was at that state.

When Zephyr was finally outside, he could feel the fresh air and cool breeze of the forest and mountain again. Zephyr swept his hair back and turned his head to look around.

He looked around finding the route back to White Tiger City. After navigating for a while, Zephyr then ran as he didn't used [Blink] of [Lightning Body] as he wanted to test how fast his base movement speed.

Zephyr also encountered many Wyverns along the way and thought in trying to fight them but decided against it as he thought it would only be a waste of time as he would only deal little damage to it.

Currently he had no intention on fighting higher tier monsters as it would only be suicide as he thought that the supercomputer Uriel won't allow him to defeat one remembering the constraints he felt when fighting the Monkey King's exuvia.

As he was ranning fast throughout the forest, a notification appeared in front of Zephyr.

[Announcement: The game has been online for 9 hours in real time. The server will shut down in 30 seconds. Please log out immediately.]

[Announcement: All players progress will be saved so there's nothing to worry. Please log out immediately.]

"It's timeout huh?

Zephyr murmered seing that the server was about to shut down. Zephyr didn't log out immediately as he was curious what would happen if he stayed until the time run out.

After a while, the world around Zephyr froze and turned colorless as the time of Tensura froze. He then thought that this phenomena was interesting and nodded at the creativity of the Atlas Corps.