The Secret Of The Ruins

>Player Arzhur's Stamina has fallen below 50%<

CRACK!

"Finally!" Just as Arthur felt like it would never happen, the jawbone of the Razer Tusk Boar cracked.

It broke down into three fragments with the middle bare bone, and the two tusks separated.

>Player Arzhur has obtained Medium Quality Razer Tusk Boar Tusk x 2!<

"HAH! And they're medium quality too!" Arthur rejoiced. "Guess breaking the bone instead of cutting the tusks was the right choice. I might have just lowered the quality if I tried to cut off just the tusks." He reckoned.

With all the materials harvested, Arthur quickly stored them away in his bag, which was now bulging out.

"Lack of storage space will be a pain for quite some time… Unless I can obtain a spatial storage bag." Arthur yearned for one of the convenient luxuries of the game.

Unlike many other video games, there wasn't an unlimited and weightless inventory. Instead, players needed to carry around bags and more to haul their items around. Of course, a player could increase the number of bags they had, but it would come with a weight penalty.

Avoiding this was possible through the use of a Spatial Storage bag.

It was a special piece of enchanted equipment that was very expensive to buy. It functioned similarly to the inventory of other games and provided a weightless and compact way of carrying around items.

Even if Arthur wished for it though, it was a luxury that he wouldn't be able to obtain for quite some time.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Arthur lugged the hide of the Razer Tusk Boar on his back and walked towards the collapsed wall.

'The sealed stone gates that looked like a wall are gone, but there is more to it.' Arthur traced from the edge of the wall and quickly found a few small carvings.

These carvings were covered up by the stone gate, as this was where they were attached. The stone hinges had been shattered as well, allowing these carvings to be revealed.

>Quest Updated!<

>You've discovered another secret of the Kestrel Ruins. Either report back to the Resident Mage or continue exploring<

"This is the right track for sure." Arthur nodded before looking at the carvings closely.

"Three fingers below, nineteen fingers above, and eleven fingers on both sides…" Arthur repeated what he had memorized.

This was what was written on the wall. It was written in an ancient language and most players wouldn't even notice it at first. Neither would they be able to read what it said.

Instead, one needed to return to the Resident mage and get him to translate it. Only after doing that would the player be able to progress on the secret of the ruins.

"But I don't need all that. I already know it!" Arthur tapped his finger four times in specific spots on the wall.

At first, it looked like there was no effect, but then a few seconds later faint vibrations could be heard.

Tremble!

The ground shook lightly as the wall in front of Arthur started to slide down.

"Alright!" Arthur let the secret entrance open up before picking up one of the waste bones of the Razer Tusk Boar and wrapping some fat and sinew on it. "This'll be enough for a light." Igniting it from the torches hanging from the corridor walls, Arthur proceeded.

When Arthur had butchered the Razer Tusk Boar, he hadn't been able to obtain all that was possible. After all, his Butchering skill was low and the beast had already sustained quite a lot of damage.

If the kill was clean, Arthur might have had a chance of obtaining better materials and in a greater quantity too. But even if he did, there wasn't a way for him to carry all that back. What he had with him was already touching the limit.

Any more and he would probably become over-encumbered.

None of that was on Arthur's mind though, as his entire focus was on the path in front of him.

"This is really narrow… and steep." Arthur looked at the path that was barely a meter wide and had a chasm on both sides.

Even with the flame burning on the bone, Arthur couldn't see the bottom of the chasm. Though if he leaned a bit, he could see that the path below him actually had no support at the bottom!

It wasn't just a path; it was a bridge!

"Sheesh! Newbie players would already piss their pants if they came here." Arthur subconsciously wiped the cold sweat from his face.

With how realistic everything was, it wasn't unusual for people's real fears such as acrophobia to appear in the game too. In fact, players could actually get hit by mental debuffs and become incapacitated.

Of course, the level and severity of the debuff depended individually on the player, but it was still a tough thing to overcome.

Thankfully, with Arthur's plentiful experience, he could shrug it off.

'I've done worse, this is nothing.' He reminded himself as he traversed the narrow bridge.

He walked slowly and took five minutes to cross the bridge, after which he finally arrived at a clearing.

"This looks familiar…" Arthur realized that the area that he was in looked identical to the hall where he had obtained the small esoteric statue.

He looked up and down and estimated that this place was probably located exactly below the previous hall.

"They certainly know well to hide secrets," Arthur muttered before his gaze wandered to the centerpiece of the hall.

Another altar stood there, but this time there was no red glow on it. The carvings of runes were similar to the ones he had found on the wall earlier, but there were a lot of them.

He didn't know the meaning of these but knew what he was supposed to do.

HONG!

Placing his hand on the altar, he activated it.

The runes suddenly glowed in a blue light as an opening appeared in the center of the altar. And from it rose a medallion!

Arthur took a deep breath and swallowed his saliva, his hands trembling nonstop.

"Finally… The Medallion of Kestrel."