Chapter 62. Of Monks and Men

[About that...](Deyman)

Michael was perplexed by seeing how the man was suddenly at a loss and was scratching his bald head in frustration.

"Is there something wrong?"

[Well... not really. I'm just worried that you'll do something stupid and get yourself killed, making my daughter blame me for telling you about it.](Deyman)

"Ugh..."

Drawing a blank, Michael couldn't follow the middle-aged man's train of thought, but he realized how much he doted on his daughter. Worrying that he might die and she would hate him for it was a relatively normal concern... probably.

"Don't worry about it, sir. I'm not the hotheaded type who would rush into danger without a plan. What is the achievement, and what does it give?"

[Eh? Judging by the way you're speaking, you already know about achievements. Do you already have the interface opened?](Deyman)

"Yes, sir. I was lucky enough to open it. It was mostly due to luck, though."

[No need to be humble. Achievements are called as such because the Sanctuary recognizes them. You having them is a show of your capabilities. As for what you get by clearing five Dungeons before Level 25... It's an upgradable Achievement.](Deyman)

"That's new. What exactly is it, and how can it be upgraded?"

[Well... first and foremost, you must clear five Dungeons solo. No party members allowed. The reward is a 10% increase in all Aspects gained from Dungeons. It's upgradable because there are more tiers to it.](Deyman)

"Meaning that after you gain the first one, if you meet other criteria, you can further upgrade the said achievement?"

[Exactly. If you can clear 25 Dungeons before Level 50, you gain the second tier of the achievement. It grants a 20% increase to all Aspects of your Codex of Power. The only Wanderer I know to have gained this second tier is my daughter.](Deyman)

Hearing that his tigress somehow managed to clear five dungeons before Level 25 and then another 25 before Level 50, Michael was impressed.

Rather, not just impressed but thoroughly floored. As a Necromancer using his minions, he might be able to clear the first hurdle. But the second one... unless there were better skills down the Skill Tree, he had no hope of achieving it.

"That's amazing! Truly is. Wasn't she a Warrior Class? It sounds almost impossible to gain that achievement to the second tier."

[You're not wrong to think that. We all thought the same. From time to time, newbie Wanderers manage to get the first tier. But for the second, it was unheard of until recently. Many tried, but all failed until now.](Deyman)

Getting a better idea of how strong Helen truly was, Michael realized that he had a long way ahead of him if he wanted to catch up.

After spending some more time chatting with the man, Michael said his goodbyes and prepared to leave for his Main Quest.

By the time he made it to the city's Eastern Gate and finished describing where he was going and why, it was already pretty late.

"*Sigh* I really need a watch or a way to monitor time. It's already 4-5 PM, and I'll lose light in a couple of hours. Worst case, I have an ace up my sleeves that can bring me back to Kyovashad."

Looking at his skill bar, there was a new icon addition right before the Essence.

[ Fast travel - teleports you to a previously discovered Waypoint.

*Can only be unlocked after registering with at least two Waypoints. ]

Smiling, he walked boldly for about thirty minutes, only to be stopped by a system prompt.

[ New area discovered!

+20 Fractured Peaks rewnown! ]

[ Region Progress unlocked! ]

Michael stopped walking and had his minions box him while he checked this new interface, suddenly blocking his vision.

"Let's see what the fuss is about. Eh!?"

To his amazement, five big boxes showed his progression in gaining renown; the first one was already complete.

Checking the total renown he had gained so far and seeing it having reached 200, Michael deduced that this was the amount needed to complete the first hurdle and earn the reward. As for what the reward was...

[ Tier 1 Renown - Completion 200/200

Reward 1: 1,250 experience points 

Reward 2: 300 Gold Coins

Reward: 1 Skill Point

Prompt: Claim Now ]

Shocked, he quickly selected the 'claim now' option and immediately saw his experience bar move. It was now sitting comfortably at 1,395/2,990.

Soon after, he opened up the Skill Tree and was pleasantly surprised to see an extra Skill Point staying there obediently.

Pondering briefly, he tried an experiment by adding the point to Corpse Explosion.

"Hmm... Only a 5% increase. Not particularly impressive. Now, let's see if we can take that point back."

Subtracting the Skill Point was possible, albeit at a cost. Given that he passed Level 10 and was still under Level 25, Michael had to pay the Sanctuary 5 gold coins every time he wanted to reassign a point.

Of course, according to the other members of his party, this cost would increase exponentially with his levels.

Looking at his gold coin count showing 23,522, he anxiously watched as he removed a Skill Point from Corpse Explosion. Surely enough, the amount dropped to 23,517.

"That's good to know... but what should I do about this skill point?"

Scratching his head, he decided to play around a bit since he had enough coins.

Unfortunately, after spending an extra 20 gold coins, he realized that none of his five active skills could gain major improvements from this meager skill point.

"Bone Splinters had a 1% damage increase, Blight got a 3% impact increase and 8% area damage increase, Corpse Explosion the previous 5%, and Blood Mist only gained a cooldown decrease from 24 seconds to 23.1. Same as for Bone Prison, decreasing its cooldown from 18 seconds to 17.1... truly useless."

And that's when the magic happened. Michael threw the point into Skeletal Warrior Mastery since the others were useless. To his amazement, the percentage increase for both the Life points and Damage of his minions doubled to 30%!

"Holy crap! That's awesome! Now I'm even more safe when bulldozing through these... the fuck!?"

Before he could enjoy his small victory, a swathe of creatures ambushed him and his minions.

They looked like red incorporeal silhouettes, though their weapons and bows looked incredibly threatening.

[ Wrathful Phantom Soldier (Minion) - Level 14 ]

[ Wrathful Phantom Archer (Minion) - Level 15 ]

Taking a deep breath, Michael immediately threw a Blight blob at the incoming enemies. There were two groups of five each, amounting to ten total. Eight were melee and charged forward with swords and axes in hand, while the other two held bows and arrows.

With his upgraded minions tanking the incoming wave, Michael bombarded the Phantom Soldiers with Blight and Bone Splinters while using Bone Prison to block the vision of the two Phantom Archers.

Fortunately, his one Skill Point used on Hewed Flesh gave results against all odds, and a Corpse formed under the feet of one of the Phantom Soldiers.

"As for how the fuck does a corpse form from a Phantom Soldier... given how hard they're hitting my minions, I doubt they're incorporeal. Explode, you fuckers!"

The explosion didn't arrive, but instead, it looked like the Corpse was farting, with dark gas expanding in its surrounding area.

However, the damage dealt was insanely higher than the previous Corpse Explosion, now dealing damage with triple digits.

Alternating between Corpse Explosion and Raise Skeletons, Michael quickly cleared the Phantom Soldiers with no casualties among his own Warriors and then easily dealt with the remaining Archers.

Looking at his Essence staying at 90/100 even after he spammed the shit out of Blight, he couldn't help but sigh in relief at the Bone Splinters that helped him stay alive.

"Let's see... Welp, no items, obviously. As for gold... 64 coins total. Not bad at all."

Not only did he recover his spent gold coins, but he also made a profit.

Looking back at the Region Progress interface, now that the nuisances were gone, Michael started drooling once more.

To explain it simply, the rewards were as follows:

Tier 1 – Collect 200 Renown to get Bonus XP, 3,000 Gold, and one Skill Point.

Tier 2 – Collect 300 Renown (Total 500) to get Bonus XP, 10,000 Gold, and an extra Potion Charge.

Tier 3 – Collect 400 Renown (Total 900) to get Bonus XP, 25,000 Gold, and one Skill Point.

Tier 4 (required World Tier 3 unlock) – Collect 400 Renown (Total 1300) to get Bonus XP, 60,000 Gold, and 80 Max Obols.

Tier 5 (requires World Tier 3 unlock) – Collect 500 Renown (Total 1800) to get Bonus XP, 125,000 Gold, and 4 Paragon Points.

"Tier two gives an extra Potion Charge, meaning I can have five Healing Potions instead of the current four. Damn! Another Skill Point at Tier 3! Eh? 80 Max Obols... is that for the lottery-like dude, Gonk introduced me to? Anyways, what's free is a gift! Tier 5 actually gives 4 Paragon Points!? Holy smokes! I'm not even sure what that does, but I'm sure it's amazing! Hahaha! Hmm... wait! If this says 'Fractured Peaks,' could it be that every region has its own progress and rewards!?"

Fantasizing about having 20 extra skill points and maxing out his Skill Tree, Michael couldn't help but laugh foolishly in the middle of the wilderness. If one was to hear him, they would surely think some vile monster had just arrived at the scene.

"So, I'm at 200 points now and need another 300 for the next tier. But how do I gain... oh!? Is this it?"

Six smaller boxes were on the interface under the big ones, showing his completion of Fractured Peaks.

[ Waypoints - 2/7

*Renown Value: 20 per Waypoint. ]

[ Strongholds - 0/3

*Renown Value: 100 per Stronghold. ]

[ Side Quests: 2/35

*Renown Value: 30 per Side Quest. ]

[ Areas Discovered: 16/76

*Renown Value: 5 per Area Discovered. ]

[ Side Dungeons: 0/23

*Renown Value: 40 per Side Dungeon cleared. ]

[ Altars of Lilith: 2/28

*Renown Value: 10 per Altar of Lilith ignited. ]

Drawing a deep breath, Michael stopped himself from shouting in happiness. Since he had to clear Dungeons anyway, he would do so and gain 40 points per each.

The best part was that it didn't mention anything about him needing to clear them solo to gain the said 40 points.

"Seven Waypoints means that there are at least five other big cities that I must visit, which is also a good thing since it means more Areas Discovered. Strongholds... that sounds dangerous based on the points it gives. I remember Gonk talking about it, and it sounded scary as fuck. Fortunately, many Wanderers would join hands and recover the said Strongholds."

The Side Quests were a given, and he would try his best to get and complete as many as possible. After all, completing them while forgoing the Main ones differentiated true gamers from casual players.

"As for Altars of Lilith... I was expecting this, but goddamn! Are there another 26 hidden all over Fractured Peaks? How the hell am I supposed to find all of them?"

However, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't somewhat relieved. Seeing how the system/Sanctuary was pushing him to light up those altars, it meant that they were beneficial with no major repercussions to regular folk.

Thinking about how the system introduced the altars, Michael smiled.

[ Prompt 1: The altars of Lilith are hidden all over Sanctuary. They grant permanent boosts to all residents of this realm upon activation. ]

"All residents of this realm means both commoners and Wanderers. If I successfully activate all 28 Altars, does that mean that there would be at least 56 attribute points distributed to all commoners in the world? Or is it applicable only to the Fractured Peaks area? Further investigation and experimentation is needed!"

Laughing loudly like a maniac, Michael continued exploring as much as he could before nighttime.

The plan was to cover as much distance as possible today, return to Kyovashad at night, and then, in the morning, retrace his steps and further his progress toward his Main Quest.

Though... as much as he wanted to complete the Main Quest, it appeared that the Sanctuary decided to tempt him.

"A man!? Shit... he doesn't look alive at all. Pathfinder!"

After ordering his minion to move forward, he was able to 'see' through its senses that the man in question was a Monk. A dead one. Frozen to death to top it all.

On the cold snow next to his body laid a book, which the Monk apparently hugged close to his body before passing away.

"*Sigh* Faith can provide warmth only when indoors, you poor fool. It doesn't help against the elements."

Grabbing the book, the system identified it as 'Pilgrim's Journal,' apparently a Quest Item.

Michael didn't hesitate to open it, but it was all gibberish in his eyes. Soon, though, the letters started making sense, and he could read the first page's contents.

[Priest Matvey says I am ready. I shall leave Margrave at dawn. The Journey will be long, but my faith is endless. Light, grant me safe passage to the monastery, that I may better know your grace within its hallowed halls.](?)

Shaking his head at the foolishness of people, Michael glanced at the new system prompt covering his view.

[ New Quest issued - A Cold Faith

Objective: Speak with Priest Marvey in Margrave. ]