Legacy
Because of the speed, at which the gap between them closed, he was unable to muster much strength to defend himself. He could only use his sword to block as many incoming branches, which were trying to impale him, while twisting his body in every possible way.
Even though he managed to block most branches, one of them still stabbed through his shoulder.
As soon as it penetrated his skin it started to emit a suction force, which slowly moved his blood towards the wound. The blood was then absorbed by the branch.
When Ivan felt his blood starting to drain, he felt fear and hurriedly tried to cut of the branch with his sword. Because his sword was only a simple iron sword and the branches of the Murderous Treant had high fire resistance, he was unable to cut it of.
Moving backwards to pull it out was useless too, since there were still some branches behind him and the strength of the Treant wasn't something he could contest against.
He pulled out his dagger and tried to cut the branch of and this time he managed to do it. But during the time needed to accomplish this the branches behind him, that had originally tried to whip him, had changed their style of attack and now speared towards him from the back.
This time he wasn't as luck as the first time and multiple branches went though his back. They too started to pump out his blood and this time he was unable to get rid of them.
Soon the amount of blood left in him was reduced so far, that he blacked out.
<< You have died and entered Soul-form.
Because you are in a special dungeon you are currently unable to revive. Leave the dungeon or finish the soul quest. >>
For the first time the notification had changed.
"Hm, so this dungeon is a special dungeon?", Ivan wondered, "But what is this soul quest?"
Soon he had to temporarily concentrate on something else, as another prompt popped up.
<< Congratulation you have fulfilled the two conditions and received the legacy quest of the Herb Garden.
Condition 1: Have a Heaven Grade bloodline or higher.
Condition 2: Be able to enter Soul Form while being in the Body Refinement Realm.
>>
Both of these conditions weren't something he could understand. He had never heard about Heaven Grade and bloodlines. But was still able to make some guesses as what it meant.
Bloodline should have something to do with his ancestors and it having to be of at least Heaven Grade should mean that it had to be of a specific grade.
The second was easier to guess, but the term "Body Refinement Realm" surprised him. He guessed that him using the energy of his surroundings to temper his flesh should be part of the Body Refinement Realm. But it indicated that there was something above it, but he had heard that even the strongest in the four empires still refined their bodies.
<< Quest Legacy of the Herb Garden (Unique)
You have fulfilled the condition to gain the Legacy of the Herb Garden. This legacy is only a small part of the legacies left by the owner of the Herb Garden. Obtaining this part of the legacy enables you to try to gain the others, after arriving at the places they are located at.
Step 1: Kill the Murderous Treant on the first level of the Herb Garden.
Reward:
- Legacy of the Herb Garden.
- Herb Ring (Artifact)
>>
This was the first time he had seen a unique quest and when he read it he was pleasantly surprised. Even though he didn't know what the Legacy of the Herb Garden was, the Herb Ring alone would be a great reward.
The only problem was that even the first step of the quest was already that heard. At the moment he had no idea how he would be able to kill it. And this was only the first step. He was sure that there would be more steps and each of them would be more difficult than the one before, since that was the way most chain quests worked.
Still, it would be a great long term goal to finish this quest. But for now, it was more important to revive.
As such he looked at the other quest he had gotten.
<< Soul Quest: Gaining Strength 1
All living beings have souls, that are released after their death. Most of them will vanish withing a blink of an eye, but some will stay longer. The stronger the being during its life, the more powerful its soul. Some are even able to absorb other souls to strengthen themself and after reaching a certain threshold can then reincarnate.
In the special environment of the Herb Garden, the souls of death beings can stay for at least two days. While they aren't able to absorb other souls to strengthen themself, they can move around freely.
Collect and absorb the souls of at least 20 beings, to strengthen your soul. To do that use your soul form to catch the souls running around and then eat them.
Reward: Skill: Soul Absorb (SS)
>>
When Ivan read through this quest his eyes lit up. After he had created his secondary soul form, his main form had been weakened. Sadly there was no skill recorded in the database of the alliance, that could strengthen the soul. And now he had stumbled over one, so how couldn't he be delighted.
He had already spent a lot of time inside this dungeon, so he was unwilling to waste anymore. As such he hurriedly shot of the way he had come. After all he had killed quite a few creatures. Maybe their souls could be found nearby. At least the chance to find some should be one.
First he would strengthen his soul, before working on increasing his stats, because there was no way he could defeat the Murderous Treant at the moment. Besides that he had realized that he needed a better sword, which was another thing on his list of things to get.