The Catacombs

Laying on top of a satin cushion were two dark blue blades with golden hilts. These blades had a regal air about them that radiated outwards. As Jason lifted them gently at the hilts he could feel they nestled softly into his grip as they formed to fit perfectly into his hands. He lightly spun them in the air and could feel that they had an impeccable balance as they turned into extensions of his limbs.

As he further inspected the weapon, he saw slight notches in the hilts. With a smooth motion he brought the two hilts together which then merged perfectly into one long hilt. He now held a short staff with two long blades on either end. He instinctively knew he could increase or decrease the length of this staff to a certain extent. As he spun it slightly from side to side, he could feel how smoothly the blades cut through the air.

A small smirk crept upon his face. This weapon was meant for pure destruction, and it had found a superb owner to deliver its absolute potential. He glanced at the attribute panel which displayed the weapons attributes so he could further understand this new weapon.

[System Message – Royal Double-Bladed Staff – Platinum – Level 5

Requires: Str 34 | Dex 45

Swordsmanship Proficiency: Adept

Damage: 66-80

Strength +30 Dexterity +45

Double Bladed Staff made for the guards of ancient Elven Royalty, can be wielded as one or two weapons.

Passive: Increases Attack Speed by 15%

Skill One: Return – Double-Bladed staff will appear in the Users hands at will.

Mana Points: 5 per activation

Skill Two: Royal Manipulation – The User can manipulate the Double-Bladed Staff at will to fly through the air.

Mana Points: 20 per second.]

Staring at the deadly weapon in is hand, Jason was awed into silence. The damage he could deal with this weapon would be tremendous and allow him to exert a power high above his level; it was a shame that he didn't have the requirements fulfilled to wield it at the moment.

Looking down into the chest to see if there was anything else, Jason immediately put away the double-bladed staff into his inventory; quickly forgetting it as he picked up a wrinkled old parchment.

[System Message – Concealed Blade Armguard – Blueprint – Rare

Blueprint that gives knowledge on how to forge the Concealed Blade Armguard. An elite assassin tool that conceals a pure mana blade in the armguard.]

In ecstasy Jason poured over the contents of this blueprint. He could forge this easily given the right materials and have another tool in his arsenal that would propel him towards success. As he poured over the required materials and design of this blue-print, he was even more stunned.

The blade made out of pure mana was theoretically as powerful as a plasma blade from a sci-fi film. It would extend to about six inches in front of the users fist and could easily cut through any material. The process involved in making this item was rather complicated and involved a lot of mana circuits and mana stones that he needed to obtain.

This blueprint had an even higher potential than the double-bladed staff he had obtained. He could build and equip as many Users as he would like, giving them an extra weapon to use along with the added armor.

Remembering that he was in an urgent situation, Jason put the blueprint into his inventory and began to walk down the middle hallway carefully looking for traps and enemies.

As he walked away from the chest, it quickly evaporated into mana streams as it rejoined The System. In his past life, many people had tried to take the chest with them as well. What people quickly discovered was that the chest would dissolve back into pure mana.

No one was aware from where The System obtained the items it rewarded, but what they did know is that the items were real and fantastic. The chests only seemed to be a gimmick The System used to enhance the atmosphere when handing out rewards.

Jason crept down the hallway he feeling the urgency of the situation and desiring to rush through to get to the end. While he knew that a Greater Demon would be impossible for him to deal with, knew he had to take it slow so he wouldn't fall into any possible traps. There wasn't much point to rushing if he died along the way.

The decrepit hallway carried on straight for a while before it began to slightly angle downward. Occasionally Jason would come across more skeletal warriors in their crypts. As Jason approached the first crypts, he decided to test to see if the medallions he obtained off the cultists corpse would really allow him to pass without waking the dead.

As he carefully walked up to the first crypt with the skeletal warrior inside, he began slowly walking towards the skeleton. Inching forward bit by bit, he was constantly tense and ready to immediately act if the green fire were to activate in its eyes.

As he closed the distance to the skeleton, still nothing happened; even up to the point where he was staring deep into the empty eye sockets. Staring at the inactive skeleton in front of him, Jason had one last test he wanted to try.

He looked over at the other fifteen skeletons lined up on the wall, pointed his shield at the skeleton in front of him and activated flame-throw: immolating the skeleton in an instant.

Jason quickly looked over to see that the remaining skeletons hadn't reacted to him destroying the first skeleton. He smirked, 'free experience points'.

As Jason passed each skeleton he would cleave at it with his sword. Each stroke to the skull was a critical hit, and the majority of the time he would destroy it in one hit. Occasionally he would have to take a second swing at it, and the entire time he was destroying one skeleton after the other, none of them reacted at all to the slaughter of their brethren or their own execution.

After he had cleared these few skeletons, The System rewarded him with his experience points and he continued down the pathway. Now that he knew the medallion worked as some sort of key of passage through the hallway, he started going much faster.

'I probably should have given one of these medallions to Leviticus… Oops'

Jason felt a little bad he had forgotten to give the elf the second "Hallway Pass" they had obtained from the Cultists. He figured that the elf probably would be ok without it.

Due to Jason having the cultist's medallion on him, none of the undead would awaken as he passed and he used this an opportunity to get the free experience point from each undead he would pass in the hallway.

He eventually came to a section of the hallway that opened into a large new cavern. This cavern had moss hanging from the ceiling, with stalactites and stalagmites scattered throughout the cavern. About thirty feet away from Jason stood a single man in dark robes. Alongside him were five wretches who were staring at Jason voraciously. Drool began cascading down their bristle-jaws as they caught sight of the prey their master had promised them.

The man seemed to be waiting for Jason to enter the room and began clapping boisterously. "I see you managed to escape the ambush that Mick and Rory had set for you! Bravo and well done!"

"It is regrettable that your actions have been fruitless in the end." The man sighed and rubbed his face, feigning sorrow. "This is where you die, and my pets shall devour your flesh and soul!"

He waved his hands towards Jason as he turned around, intending to leave. "Eat to your diabolical content."

With this command the five wretches promptly dashed forward towards Jason, releasing a screech of joy as their sickle like arms prepared to tear Jason limb from limb.