Staff of Long Winter

Felix did not make any revolutionary discovery in this hour of training, but he did get to experiment with his Runes.

Since he was already able to easily make Runes in an instant, his training was solely focused on trying to find a binder for his Runes. A structure that would encompass all of his Runes and make them work together.

From his experience, Felix knew that when placing several Runes on a sword, for example, the Runes would work together even if not placed precisely, as the Mana would naturally circulate through the material of the sword, and be contained by it.

So the idea here was to substitute the material by magic. And after one hour of experimentation, while Felix hadn't yet found the precise structure, he had already determined that it would need to be in the shape of a circle.

Not simply because Felix thought it looked good, but because circles had a special meaning in Runes. A circle meant destruction and rejuvenation, and here it would allow to both contain the Mana from the Runes, but also circulate it.

A triangle was too rigid, a square only contained, and most other shapes would either fail to do the job, or would make the task more complicated than it should be.

Felix found this kind of research to be very exciting, but he had to stop for something maybe equally as exciting.

Drakon, who had been charging his skill for three hours now, had a full set of armor surrounding him, the energy in them so concentrated that it almost looked solid. Well, from experience, it probably was.

Since they didn't know what was behind the door, Felix, Zed and Zara all prepared themselves in case of an emergency, and Drakon moved.

With his first steps, the door did not react. It simply looked like a normal door, one that would be easily toppled over.

However, as Drakon got within a meter of it, Dark Mana suddenly poured out of the door, forming several shields of different natures in front of the door. Behind the shields, several spikes also formed, all aiming to pierce through the approaching Guardian.

Yet as Drakon crashed into the shields, they broke apart like eggshells thrown against a wall, and the thick dark spikes turned into brittle sticks as they failed to deal any damage, allowing Drakon to reach the door.

He slammed into it with such force that the door was not even sent flying off its hinges. Instead, a large man-sized hole was blown into the metal door.

From his side, Felix could see what looked like a normal room, so he quickly followed after Drakon, easily moving through the hole as Drakon was much larger than any of them.

The room looked as normal as they came, except for one thing, which had been hidden by Drakon's massive frame.

A chest. A large, wooden chest.

It looked as simple as a chest could look, yet the four players' eyes were wide open with excitement shining through them as they looked at it.

Rubbing his hands together, Zed snickered, "Well, if no one's against it, I'll open it…"

Drakon stopped him with his arm though, and said, "I'll do it. It might be a mimic in disguise, and I have the best chances of surviving it if that's the case."

Right as he said that though, an icicle smashed into the chest. It did no damage, but the chest did not move either. According to their knowledge of games, that meant this couldn't be a mimic.

On the side, Felix resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he mouthed, "I don't care about opening it, but before you do so, I want to check something."

The three looked at him curiously as Felix approached the chest, and placed his hand on it. Extending his senses, Felix felt a few hidden Runes on the chest, which were mainly for protection and preservation.

Additionally, Felix also felt a strong source of Mana inside. He couldn't identify it, but it was bound to be interesting.

Moving aside, Felix revealed, "It really doesn't seem to be a mimic. I think there's bound to be good loot in it too."

In the end, Drakon let the twins choose who would open it, and Zed won their round of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Zed faced no difficulty in opening the chest, and the moment he did, Felix spotted a green light coming from the chest.

Zed froze for a moment as he looked inside the chest, before he suddenly burst into laughter as he grabbed something inside the chest. However, not only did he not take it out, he even swayed to the side, managing not to fall to the ground thanks to Drakon grabbing him.

Massaging his temples, Zed muttered, "Careful about the staff."

The others went to take a look into the chest, and spotted three objects: A bag, a book and a staff.

Both the bag and the staff emitted a green hue, while the book looked normal in comparison. With Zed's warning in mind, Felix examined the objects before touching them.

[Staff of Long Winter, Great, Level 59]

[Attack: +415]

[Intelligence: +16]

[Requirements: 99 Intelligence]

[Winter Wrath: Silence all targets within a five meter radius, and deal 40 Ice Damage per second for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 6 Minutes.]

[Bag of Holding, Great]

[Requirements: 60 Intelligence, 60 Spirit]

[Spatial Storage: Holds a 10x10x10 meters space within.]

Only the staff and the bag had a description. But to be placed with two Great Rank Items, its value had to be equal, if not even better.

Seeing them though, Zara complained, "Man, we managed to find OP equipment, but those requirements are insane!"

Felix looked at them and asked, "How should we split it?"

Zara scoffed, "We would have to be able to move them first, before thinking of who gets what."

Felix smiled at that and grabbed all three items at once. The other three looked at him with wide eyes, as Zed asked, "Did you put all your AP into Intelligence and Spirit? But wait, that's not right, you are only Level 10… you've only gotten 50 AP in total. How are you holding these items?"

Felix replied with a cryptic expression, "My Intelligence and Spirit are both at 100, but my situation is complicated. Anyway, how do we split them?"

Drakon was the first to regain his spirit as he pointed out, "Zara would make the best use of the staff, but she won't be able to use it for a few more levels."

With all the fights they had gone through, the three had leveled up. Drakon was Level 21, and the twins were both Level 20. And while theoretically she had earned 95 AP through levels, she hadn't just poured everything into Intelligence.

Zara nodded and revealed, "I would need at least ten more levels to be able to equip the staff, and that's if I put all my AP into Intelligence, something I'm not really keen on doing."

Sending a look at the bag, she said, "I think you would make the best use of the bag, Odin. As an independent player, you are bound to face more restrictions, so you should take it. In exchange, we would be taking the book. As for the staff, since you are the only one capable of even holding it, you should keep it for now."

Felix looked at the book, titled 'Sight of the True Hunter', and commented, "This looks like a Skill Book. One that could be useful to Rogue and Ranger type classes. Zed would certainly make the best use of it."

As he said that, he threw the book to Zed, who caught it with a grin as he opened it right away.

Then, he sent a small part of his Mana into the bag. As he did so, he felt a part of his attention split as he felt the insides of the bag clearly. It was empty, unfortunately. Moving the staff to the opening of the bag, the bag started emitting a suction force that attracted the staff inside.

Then, closing the bag, Felix set it onto his back as he said, "I'll be taking the bag and the staff for now then. Is this where our paths diverge?"

Drakon nodded and said, "Temporarily, at least. We will have to go back and get the reward for our quest. But we got to exchange contacts, not only to get the staff back when needed, but also in case one of us needs help."

Felix nodded, and saw Zara fish out something from one of her robe's pockets.

"Since there is no Friend system in the game, special objects are needed to keep in contact with other players. Luckily for us, I always carry spare ones for interesting people. Here."

Felix grabbed the small object, inspecting it.

[Communication Token, Semi-Fine]

[Exchange: Allows to exchange information with linked tokens.]

Zed, Zara and Drakon all took out their own Communication Token, and so they quickly linked their tokens. Apparently, these tokens had a limit of ten links, and they hadn't discovered a limit on distance yet.

And so, their business together over, the group finally separated from each other as Felix headed back for Red Dawn Town, moving through the Murky Woods much faster than before as he actually knew where he was going this time.

In half an hour, Felix managed to get back to the town, where a garrison of guards were standing next to the gaping hole in the ramparts. Leading them was someone Felix knew. Caleb.

As Felix approached, Caleb waved and asked, "Did something go wrong?"

Felix shook his head as he stopped and replied, "No, we managed to take care of the threats. There may be a few Common Ocumini left in the woods, but we took care of the Chieftain and Elite ones, as well as the caster. An Apostle of Izrath."

Caleb's face visibly paled as he asked, "A Chieftain Ocumini? What level?"

"20."

"And you managed to kill it, along with an Apostle of Izrath?"

Felix smiled and informed him, "Well, the corpses are still in the old fortress in the woods, if you want proof. But to be honest, I'm spent, so you'll have to go check for yourself. I just wanted to notify the city, so now I'll be leaving."

Caleb looked like he wanted to add something else, but Felix didn't let him as he disconnected from the game.

Although he bore with it until now, Felix's headache wasn't getting any better as he played, so he decided to go offline, and finish his nap.

It's not like he would miss anything with a short nap.