Both women were bewildered by the words that came out of Kirou's mouth. It was so shocking that both women were stunned into silence for a few minutes. During this time, Kirou sat down in a meditative state and recovered his missing health and mana while the girls were still shocked silly.
After a few minutes, however, Reya was the one who spoke up after releasing a sigh, "You know what, due to it being a solo kill, I should have figured it out when you started explaining about the benefits of playing on full manual mode and giving me lessons on harvesting." After saying this, Reya released another sigh in exasperation.
Hearing her words caused Navi's head to turn in her direction so fast that both Kirou and Reya could swear they heard a snapping sound. "He did what on what and what now?" Navi had an even more pronounced look of bewilderment present on her face.
Seeing that look on her face caused Reya to giggle a bit before speaking while Kirou approached the boss monster's corpse, "Well it goes like this..."
***************
Kirou and the two elf beauties were currently making their way back to the entrance of the dungeon. On Kirou's face was a look of contentment while Navi's was still covered in shock and awe and Reya maintained a simple smile.
Navi had heard about Kirou's actions and theories from Reya's mouth and she was currently still processing them even now as they made their return. As for Kirou, his smile of contentment came from the items the trio gained from both the boss, Mutated Murloc Warrior Jake, and that treasure chest left by that Murloc Archmage, Anderson.
Apparently, due to Archmage Anderson turning Jake into his experimental test subject, Jake was no longer deemed a dungeon monster and Kirou was allowed to dissect its body and claim all the materials he could harvest from it. As for the treasure chest, the trio obtained an item all three could use. In total, the items they obtained looked like this:
[You have received the following items: mutated Murloc scales x18, mutated Murloc bones x12, Murloc Fang (Rare-Knife), Intermediate Frost Arrow Recipe, and Murloc Saber (Rare-Sword)]
[You have looted the following: beginner water resistance recipe, beginner fire resistance recipe, and advanced potion crafting kit]
For the first set of loot from the mutated Murloc, both women simultaneously agreed to give Kirou the materials and the Murloc saber while only taking the Murloc fang and frost arrow recipe. Unfortunately for them, Kirou was adamant in refusing the sword since he found it too trashy for his tastes.
Unable to come to terms with each other, Kirou suggested trading the sword they wanted him to take for the entire set of loot found in the treasure chest. His reasoning on the matter was that since both women lacked the profession to use any of them, he would take them while giving them the sword in exchange. Both women agreed, on the condition that Kirou makes a few sets of potions for them in return. Kirou easily agreed to this but added the condition that they must prepare the materials to make the potions themselves. He refused to budge on that point.
Finalizing the agreement, Kirou got his hands on the Murloc materials from jake and all the items in the treasure chest while the girls got the equipment. When added to the Murloc Shaman Robe and the Murloc Magic Sceptor obtained earlier from Shaman Rodrick, the girls got quite a haul from the dungeon, equipment-wise at least, while Kirou was given more materials to play with, a win-win situation for both sides.
While the trio was walking along their path, they had no idea about the stir they had inadvertently created in the player base when they defeated the final boss for the <Riverbed Cove Dungeon>, nor about the attention they received from the high leveled boss monster that left the treasure chest for them.
*************
A few minutes after the trio had defeated Mutated Murloc Warrior Jake, a bright red system message was released on the world channel to all the players in the game.
<Server Announcement: Player ***** has completed the <Riverbed Cove Dungeon> on Hell Mode Difficulty. This achievement has been recorded in Immortal Era's History Books. Player ***** has been rewarded Fame +1500, 300 gold, a skill book, and 10sp>
<Server Announcement: Player **** has completed the <Riverbed Cove Dungeon> on Hell Mode Difficulty. This achievement has been recorded in Immortal Era's History Books. Player **** has been rewarded Fame +1500, 300 gold, a skill book, and 10sp>
<Server Announcement: Player **** has completed the <Riverbed Cove Dungeon> on Hell Mode Difficulty. This achievement has been recorded in Immortal Era's History Books. Player **** has been rewarded Fame +1500, 300 gold, a skill book, and 10sp>
Those three messages were repeated three times in a row, causing all the players currently online to break out into a mass discussion.
"Hey, could it be that that dungeon was cleared by three people? How the hell did they do it on that difficulty?" asked one player in the world chat.
Another player went on to ask, "Why are their names hidden? I wanna know who they are?"
"Which guild was lucky enough to have such strong players? I bet they are the elite of the elite in one of the top guilds like the Ocean Empire or the Grand Kingdom."
"I'm bet my money on Immortal Streams or the Jade Flower Guild," said another player.
Discussions like these were popping up all over the server and many groups were once again mobilized to track down the elusive players behind the hidden names, forever unable to even meet them.
The main reason why the names were displayed for the server announcement wasn't due to the trio directly rejecting the honor but as a consequence of Archmage Anderson's cloud of swirling mana. In fact, they didn't even notice the server announcement due to them being shocked at the time due to Kirou's last attack. Due to their close proximity to the cloud of mana when the system sent them the message, the cloud blocked the message, prompting the system to think that the trio rejected the option to display their names to the world.
As for attracting Murloc Archmage Anderson's attention, this was done by them killing Mutated Murlock Warrior Jake himself. When Archmage Anderson left the dungeon earlier, a part of his power was left within the mutated warrior. With the warrior's death, Archmage Anderson was able to sense that piece of his power disappear, prompting him to stop in his tracks and stare in the direction of the <Riverbed Cove Dungeon>.
'Hoho. It seems like those juniors were indeed able to take care of my mess. Though it was a failure, it was still stronger than beings at that level, so for them to have taken it down means they show promise. Hmm, I should probably report this to the Sect Master, but I get the feeling that he and the rest of the elders will learn of this group soon enough. Especially that halfling.' Those were Archmage Anderson's thoughts as he turned around and resumed his journey. If there was anyone present and capable of looking at their map, they would have realized that Archmage Anderson's current location wasn't in the Southern Continent or any of the inner continents as well, but on the coast of the Demon Continent. This was a place that none of the players even knew about yet nor will they for a long time.
**********
After leaving the entrance to the dungeon and swimming back to the shores, the trio was currently engaging in a friendly chat.
"So the reason you entered the dungeon with Reya earlier was that she ran into you on the way back to the village?" asked Kirou while looking at the two elves in interest.
"That's right. I was on my way to check out the area for that quest we did in the dungeon when I saw Reya speeding towards me from the direction I was going," explained Navi with a shrug. It seems that their meeting was truly a coincidental one. "Who knew that when she recognized me, she would ask me to craft a bunch of healing items for her on the spot which saves her a trip to the village. I couldn't even refuse since she gave me all the ingredients upfront and they were better than normal ones at that." When Navi said this, she looked at Reya before releasing a sigh in exasperation. It seems that she truly had no choice in the matter at that time.
After hearing these words and seeing the resigned look on her face prompted Kirou to turn his sights towards Reya, who was currently giggling. Kirou, for his part, could almost picture the flow of the events that took place and he couldn't stop himself shaking his head.
It was here that Reya finally spoke up, amidst her giggles, "So, Mr. Wolf. What do you plan on doing now?" Her question caused Navi to turn her sights on Kirou as well. "I mean, do we go hand in this quest now and collect the rewards, or do we continue on our adventure in these woods."
Her words came out sounding strange as Kirou gave Reya a peculiar look while Navi looked away quickly. If either of the two were to take a closer look, they would realize that Navi was currently hiding a light blush on her face.
Kirou chuckled while looking at Navi before responding, "While I would like to spend some more time in these woods with you two gorgeous elves..." Kirou's words made Reya realize what she had previously said and now she too was sporting a blush on her face. "While I would like to do that, all three of us currently lack healing items and we need to stock up before we go on any grand adventures in these woods." Kirou had a very cheeky smile on his face when he said this, causing the two gorgeous elves to speak at the same time.
"Pervert."
"Lecher."
In response to their words, Kirou broke out into a laughing fit, prompting the women to get angry in their embarrassment and started to chase him. He ran away while laughing, maintaining a certain distance between the two that they just could not cross.
*******************
Roughly twenty minutes later of laughter and chasing, the trio now finds themselves at the entrance of Thousand Wood Village. Before they could enter, however, they were greeted to the sight of a bunch of players blocking the entrance. These players looked as if they were searching around for something and the trio had no idea what it was.
Curious, the trio went up to one of the players and asked what's going on. When the player saw them, he eyed them for a bit before shaking his head. He then began to tell them a tale.
"Currently, all the guilds are looking out for the players that just cleared the Riverbed Cove Dungeon. Due to them not displaying their names, each guild is now searching for any info on the players to see who's guild members they are. Apparently, they want to use those three players to either boost their own guild's standings or find out which guild managed to train up those elites." When the player said this, he gave the trio another once over but ultimately shook his head and turned away to join the other players searching around.
Kirou had a poker face on during the whole time the player was talking about what's going on. He realized what had happened mid-conversation but decided it best to stay quiet. As for the two women behind him, both women had peculiar expressions on their faces but they ultimately kept quiet as well. Having come to some sort of agreement, the trio quietly entered the village.
It wasn't until a few minutes later when they were near the elf apothecary's tree cottage that they started to speak in whispers.
"That guy was definitely talking about us, right?" asked Reya with a somewhat giddy expression on her face.
In response, Kirou just gave her a nod while keeping an eye on their surroundings as they walked towards the tree cottage.
"It seems like our little dungeon dive turned into a big event. What are your thoughts on this, Kirou?" asked Navi as she gazed at Kirou's back ahead of her.
Without even turning around, Kirou spoke up enough so that just the two could hear him, "We do absolutely nothing about it. I have no plans on being famous and I doubt you two are willing to let your guild know about this right?"
Both women gave each other a look before Navi answered the question, "That's right. We would rather keep this quiet. If the guild knew it was us, they would want us to hand over our gear to develop the elite members of the guild. This would be especially so for the saber and knife."
Kirou nodded his head in understanding before speaking, "Then that is what we shall do. No need to let anyone else know what we did."
After saying that, Kirou knocked on the door to the elf apothecary's tree cottage.
"Come in," came a voice from inside the tree cottage.
"Let's go," Kirou said with a gentle smile on his face while gazing at the two girls before entering the tree cottage, followed closely by both beauties.
While this was going on, they never noticed the player a few dozen meters away from them that had been following them since they entered the village. At least the girls didn't.
Was planning to type up and upload two chapters but then I remembered that I had work in a few hours so.....here :p
Enjoy people
*Munches on Popcorn* :)